Game Master: The Next Generation
by Keyblader Chad
Summary: As an era of chaos begins to fill all creation, those with the ability to turn thoughts into power are summoned to influence reality itself. But faced with the machinations of gods themselves, and revelations of eras long past, will the power of the Azure tip the scales or only further corrupt the fabric of reality? The game has only just begun.
1. Prologue: Radiant Mythology

**Prologue: Radiant Mythology**

Black boots touched down upon the crystal floor as the entity materialised into existence. A human shaped figure garbed in a long black coat and trousers. A hood casting an unnatural pitch black darkness over where the face should be.

A pale blue crystal floor stretched out in every direction into infinity to meet an endless blue sky above. The crystal floor translucent enough to offer a sight of a deep blue abyss of water, flowing gently almost as if it was part-energy.

No one would expect to find this landscape deep within the core of a moon; Cut off from reality itself as a realm projected into existence. Some worlds would refer to this concept as a Reality Marble.

To further add to the surreal nature of this realm; computer based code would periodically manifest in portions in the crystal, the sky, the air around the figure itself.

This was the deepest level of a created reality known as The Photonic Abyss or the Serial Phantasm. Se. Ra. Ph.

An artificial environment made manifest by this moon, no, that would be simplifying it too much. By a collection of some variant of photonic crystals that had been gathered into a strange almost super computer like construct. Whatever civilisation had designed such a feat had left it here long before this moon even existed. The moon forming around it as a shell, becoming one with it. Few knew of the construct, fewer of Serial Phantasm. Those who did know of the construct would refer to it as The Moon Cell.

The figure had yet to make any move since materialising. There was no need. The moment they had been made manifest in this realm, they were already known to The Moon Cell. It observed everything in the universe, scanning every world in a nanosecond. An archive of everything that was and is, running simulations for almost every possibility that could be.

With that in mind it was likely aware of this being's arrival before it even manifested.

Finally the figure spoke, a voice that sounded like a young adult male human but came with a distorted echo that any listening would wonder just what the truth of this being was, "For my clarification. You know who I am?"

For clarification The Moon Cell generated multiple holograms of various figures in the same clothing. Names floating above them. One by one they disappeared. Xehanort, Xemnas, Xigbar, Marluxia, Saïx, Luxu, Master of Masters. One by one these names and figures disappeared along with others until just one remained standing opposite the entity.

The name above it would repeatedly shift to different identifications: Yagami, Genesis, Delusion, Remnant. One name just resembled a mess of glitched code. "Yagami will do."

The hologram disappeared and Yagami addressed the system again. "I'm here to give my thanks, but first... You know what I want to see. One last reminder."

More holograms, no, the reality marble around Yagami was shifting. Now they stood in a barren wasteland; hundreds, maybe even thousands of strange weapons in key-like designs embedded into the ground as if monuments in a graveyard leaving a crossroads between them.

There in the middle of these crossroads as a silver and azure light shined down from above, a girl in her late teens with long pink hair cried over a body she held closely in her arms. A sword beside her, its silver hilt adorned with golden pieces for the guard, a pale blue crystal placed within. Its blade; seemingly of energy, a soft green, shifting into turquoise the further down the blade it went, an ever present green energy aura radiated around it.

This changed as the hilt slowly transitioned into shades of purple, the gem becoming yellow. The blade itself becoming shades of purple, this colour shifting even to the energy aura that now seemed far more ominous of an aura than its now lost radiance.

Everything faded away as reality shifted. Now the landscape of a damaged city. Two middle aged men; two opponents standing opposite each other in the plaza before a tall skyscraper, a citadel. Rain falling down as one by one the stars in the night sky were covered by a darkness that offered an ominous green glow across the land.

One, a man with messy wild red hair coming to the shoulders threw off the black fedora he was wearing as he held his arms out while the rain came down upon his long black coat over a gray and white mantle and black trousers. The wide mocking smile on his face as his amber eyes looked to his opponent made it seem like he was already relishing in some kind of victory.

His opponent, with black hair dripping in the rain, stared back angrily with blue eyes, a beard also upon his face. His clothing a formal black suit. His right arm raised as thirteen different weapons manifested around him; their appearance like blue transparent crystals as they floated around him in a circular motion. One more blade of physical form manifested in that right hand.

An identical set of weapons, but with a red transparency to them, manifested around the red haired man as both prepared to wage some kind of final battle.

Everything faded away as one final reality was projected around Yagami. Standing upon a projection of the surface of the moon, they looked to the stars above to observe what from this distance could only be described as some kind of comet traversing through the cosmos.

Burning yellow in the darkness, it left behind a trail of the same colour that would burst out pulses of rings around it. As it passed by a planet, a bright light would cast off from the main comet and descend upon it.

"The Umbral Star" Yagami spoke aloud. Everything faded away again as the reality marble returned to its original landscape. "It's time. We can finally tip the scales against these universal invaders.

A hologram manifested of a large machine like construct. Almost human like in shape if not for its arms and legs being nothing more than pointed ends. Its head one could only describe as some kind of container in an ornate crown like style. One could only assume it held something within due to a strange door like point upon it. A bright blue emblem was upon this door, shaped like various demonic wings and an eye in the centre. The top of the design almost looked like some kind of draconic head. Writing of an ancient language was scattered around the emblem. A name to identify it by appeared above it: _Master Unit Amaterasu_.

"Yes, that is correct." Yagami spoke as if understanding why the Moon Cell projected this hologram "Those chosen to wield the Azure are arriving." The hologram fragmented and faded away.

Yagami held out their left arm before them as if reaching out to someone or something "I thank you again for placing your trust in us. Trust in the dream. I promise you a new era."

With those dramatics, Yagami vanished away as though they were never there, to points unknown to move onto their next phase. The Moon Cell's observations carried on like they always had, like they always would.

Its simulations preparing for as many future possibilities as it could. Its systems preparing its own countermeasures and tactics for if a necessary time to utilise them occurred. Preparing for those that would try to uphold legacies or create their own.

* * *

Legacy.

One could feel a great joy in representing the efforts and ideals of a legacy their predecessors had left for them. Or they could feel burdened by the pressure of living in its shadow.

For Anna it was definitely both.

Lana Lansfeld, her mother, was known to many worlds as a great hero and a Queen. Kevin Keene, her father, had saved so many worlds and was known to them as Captain N, The Game Master.

Anna was proud of their accomplishments, of the admiration people had for her family. She was proud to be their daughter. But with so many years of heroics they had built up a lot for Anna to live up to.

Sometimes it was difficult to travel and for first impressions to be that she was their daughter. Not to be known as Anna Keene, but as Daughter of Captain N, as daughter of Queen Lana.

She had to admire her sister's ability to stand independent and her confidence in it.

Legacy was why she always enjoyed coming to this world though. The world itself was known to most off-worlders by the same name as its ancient Goddess: Hylia.

Anna had arrived here by the invite of Zelda. Princess of the largest kingdom on this world: Hyrule.

Here on this world, Zelda and her champion: Link were locked in an endless cycle of reincarnation. Returning every so often in new lives with new memories to deal with an embodiment of hatred and darkness that would return again and again.

With the knowledge of this cycle and of the legacy her past lives had left her, Zelda and Anna bonded easily over the relatable mixture of pride and pressure.

The Kingdom of Hyrule was currently enjoying a festival dedicated to celebrating it's time of peace, honouring the world's goddess as well as the Courage and Wisdom of its heroes across the ages. It would always start towards the end of the year and end on the first day of the next.

Anna was invited by Zelda to attend as a guest of the Royal Family, but not because of family ties.

Anna was here as a friend, an ally, a warrior and hero in her own right.

After so many visits to this world, people knew and remembered her. She got to enjoy conversations about their culture, their lives, their history. The people of this world's questions to her were with honest interest in her own activities, eager to hear how a friend of their princess and their hero fought her own battles.

It was so refreshing to spend all this time without receiving any question about upholding her parents legacy.

Taking a break from the festival, the young twenty year old princess had sat down on a blanket laid out on the grass off from the main marketplace.

Shoulder length auburn hair moved a little in the wind as she brushed it back with white skinned hands and smiled looking around.

Green eyes scanned over the groups of people having fun and relaxing, enjoying peace from generations of protection from their heroes "maybe-" Anna murmured to herself "-legacy's not an accurate way to think of it."

She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed the group of children coming up to her until a child's young dark brown skinned hand gently tugged at her one-piece sky blue dress.

Anna looked over at the gathered children, some trying to avoid eye contact. Others shifting from one foot to another. She smiled softly at them, leaning forward to look at them more "Oh? what's wrong?"

"Princess" the girl at the front began to stutter out "We were wanting, um, we were hoping-"

Another girl slightly older, looking similar enough to be related, helped her by continuing to speak "We were hoping to hear if you had any stories to tell. Ones you grew up with."

"You want to hear what kind of legends or fairy tales I was raised on?" they all sheepishly nodded. She just smiled more warmly "Okay. Sit comfortably and I'll try and pick a good one."

As the kids excitedly scrambled to sit down, Anna noticed Zelda off at the edge of the marketplace smiling apologetically over to her. She smiled back and shook her head slightly, mouthing "it's fine."

There were so many stories she could tell. Legends from various worlds, exploits of heroes across history, even just various fairy tales from different cultures. As she looked upon the gathered children, a nostalgic memory began to surface.

A time in her youth when her and other kids were gathered around to hear stories of a time long forgotten. Appearances were so difficult to remember but the story had always stuck with her. Yes, if there was any to choose then it was that one.

"Okay. A long time ago, all the worlds were bathed in the warmth of a radiant azure light. To many it was a beauty like starlight. Two worlds, one of dawn, and one beyond all others, felt the beauty of this the most.

On the world of Dawn: two kingdoms of light and dark lived in perfect harmony. Crystallised Light led by a line of Kings and Queens, Dark guided safely by a line of Oracles.

It was on this world that a King and an Oracle would be chosen by Six Gods to lead this era of light.

On The World Beyond, this gift of Azure light was kept safe by a gift from the gods. The World Tree, the first of its kind. A tree that would take care of the world and all those who live upon it, protected by a champion chosen by Maxwell, Lord of Spirits. This champion held the title of Descender.

It was on this world that warriors guided by their hearts would train to protect others from dark forces."

Anna paused to check if the kids were still following okay, they were pretty enthralled by her soft voice telling this story. She smiled again and resumed.

"But with this light, with this love for the light. Eventually people began to desire it for themselves. A scourge began to plague the stars themselves as people began to fight over the light... and a darkness, a corrupting malevolence, was born in their hearts.

The King of Light and the Oracle of Dark stepped forth to restore the peace but unfortunately they were stopped. Careful plans by the gods were broken by betrayal. This betrayer has remained in history known only by the title given by one of The Six. The Chaos Lord.

There are beings recorded throughout history known as Lords of Calamity. Even Ganon is recorded as such. But The Chaos Lord stands far above them."

The children had heard a lot of stories of Ganon's destruction, so they were understandably uneasy at the story's turn. Anna couldn't blame them, she remembered feeling the same way.

But she knew the rest would make up for it "But when it looked like all would fall into chaos, that the light would fade forever. Light survived in the hearts of children. Gifted by the World Tree's guardian with that power, they sealed away The Chaos Lord and brought light back to the worlds.

Some say that the true Azure light still sleeps deep within the darkness, but even there in the darkness it still shines out." She looked at the kids and smiled more softly at them "So remember, when you look at the blue sky, at the starry night. The light is always there to protect you. No matter how dark things get, there is always a light to guide you. Children saved the worlds with nothing more then hope, children like you. Believe in yourself and your hearts will shine with wisdom and courage just like Princess Zelda and Link."

At the end of the story, at being told a message of hope and that even they can be like Zelda and Link, the kids all excitedly talked amongst themselves, thanking Anna for the story.

She smiled and thanked them for being such polite listeners, apologised if she dragged on a bit then told them they should run along before any of their parents worry.

Anna watched them go then leaned back to look up to the bright blue sky, reflecting on her issues and her story, _It's not about living up to a legacy._ She laid back and smiled, feeling the warmth of the sun on her as her eyes closed, _It's about helping the next generation_.

Everything her parents done wasn't to set high standards to live up to. It was to ensure she and other children could have so many possibilities out there. Now it was her turn. It was her turn to ensure there was peaceful worlds out there, full of possibilities for the generations to come.

But for now, she was part of that next generation.

But the thing about generations is that not every threat from previous generations is content to let their ambitions fade away.

Outside of the kingdom, teleporting down from off-world was a different threat then this world was used to.

Machines of various types slowly materialised and began to make their way to Hyrule Castle and the town around it, all led by a balding elderly man with an appearance and moustache that could be described as making him look like Einstein.

An old enemy of her parents, Doctor Albert Wily. He looked upon the town and grinned widely. A hand stretched out to the town then closed into a fist, commanding his robots "Go. Find the princess and bring her to me!"

* * *

The incoming invasion of Hyrule was displayed upon multiple computer screens, watched by a young white woman of roughly twenty years in age. There was something about the way she stood, the expression in her eyes, that gave off a sense of loneliness. Even in the dim lighting of this room no one would be able to miss her with her long green hair and red eyes.

Her clothing gave the impression of being from a Mega Man timeline with it's slightly futuristic style to the make of the clothing; a black bodysuit, a white dress over this with some parts at the sides turned light blue. Metal boots of the same colours finished the outfit. She watched as the first assault began. Town guards blasted back as the stone of the watchtowers cracked and blew apart under the fire of energy weapons. The gates crashing to the floor as a machine army marched into town.

Link had been the first out of himself, Anna and Zelda to reach the soldiers. Heroic impulses on an instinctual level leading him before his mind had even assessed the situation. Sword strikes cutting down attacker after attacker. Shield bashes knocking them back or blocking shots.

The battle was truly underway, the green haired girl looked over her shoulder to a different side of the room speaking in a voice that had an almost distant tone to it, an air of mystery "It's impressive that the Moon Cell can transmit its observations all the way here. I guess it really is time now?" Her left hand was absentmindedly holding onto a blue and white bracelet on her right wrist, a few pieces of alexandrite forming part of it, held in place by a red segment of the bracelet.

There on the other side of the room was a large mechanical contraption. A large metallic ring in a style one would liken to a Stargate and standing before it was Yagami.

They turned away from the gate, walking up to join the woman and look at the footage "Last chance to back out, Pandora. It all starts getting difficult from here."

The woman now identified as Pandora looked back at the screen to observe Anna, now holding an gun stylized after her father's Zapper, taking down a few Mettaur type robots with precise energy shots before they could hide under their oversized helmets. "start?" she questioned, amusement entering her tone of voice "I joined knowing this wouldn't be easy."

A slight chuckle from the hooded figure "That you did. Thank you" Yagami turned to look down at the table to four files spread across the table. Pictures of four different white skinned people. A nineteen year old boy with brown hair and blue eyes, a nineteen year old girl with pink hair and red eyes, a twenty-one year old guy with brown hair and brown eyes and a twenty-two year old guy with black hair and green eyes. The twenty-two year old's file had the word "Confirmed" written over the top of it.

"It's time for new Game Masters. For the next generation."

* * *

 **Author Notes** **:**

Note 1: Welcome new readers and old to a story that took five years to return. I'd rather not do a long author's note but I feel it necessary to tackle this elephant in the room here.

So for context for new readers. This story originally came out in 2007 and I deleted it in 2012. Part of that was due to wanting to reboot it but another part was I had a lot of heavy stuff going on in my life at the time and it drained me of all motivation to write. It's taken a long time to get that back.

What followed was five years of continuously coming up with ideas and plans but never being satisfied. Now here we are at the end of 2017 and I finally feel that writing energy again. I still think I have a long way to go with my writing but I finally feel satisfied. Plus as a certain anime called Re:Creators educates: If you don't feel like your writing can be shown to others, when exactly are you going to show it? (Side Note: Watch Re:Creators. Can't give enough praise to how positive it is to anyone with a desire for creativity.)

I can't promise a really stellar upload schedule. I work in retail and I still have a lot of stuff to deal with. But I can promise this time the story will not be deleted. (If it ever does, then it was not my decision and will be back up ASAP.) I have spent my time thinking of ideas and writing small drafts for scenes though so I feel that will help keep the story updated decently enough.

If you're a new reader, welcome. Hope you stick around. If you're an old reader? I'm surprised you came back but I thank you. The story has changed massively, I think you'll be surprised.

Note 2: This story as you can tell uses Captain N as a base but it also isn't really based on Captain N. Events will be elaborated on throughout the story but just for clarification. The basic idea of Captain N's events has occurred. Kevin gets pulled into a different universe where game characters exist, but in this case: all fiction. He teams up with Lana and other heroes. And that's basically it.

The messed up character designs and personality traits from Captain N do not exist here, and a lot of the events that happen in the show did not happen in this backstory. Again: all of this will be elaborated on in the story. I just feel like it's good to cover it here. Captain N was a bad show but the core concept is a nice idea and I wanted to at least use that with massive changes.

Note 3: Old readers may also remember that the original story was part of a shared multiverse with good friend and fellow fanfiction author: dragonridley. Our stories now stand as separate verses. There will still be occasional allusions to each other due to specific plot in Game Master, plus a small event far in the future in his stories. But our stories are no longer vital to the understanding of the others. It's a decision made to give us more creative freedom with our ideas without tying down to the other's. Also helps keep it a lot less confusing with the amount of time-space plotlines we both like to write. fanfiction author and also good friend: Blue The Hedgehog is also still a contributor of ideas to this story.

Note 4: Hyrule as well as the designs for Link and Zelda is based on Hyrule Warriors. It gives me a lot more freedom to write with my own version of that then the other points in the series timelines.

Note 5: Currently this story is in anime x-overs/game x-overs section. It will encompass a variety of different types of fiction though. I may move categories into a general x-overs but I feel like anime and games are the predominant focus so it works the best.

Note 6: This Prologue as well as Chapters 1, 2, and 3, have all gone up together. With the long wait, I wanted to at least have more than one chapter of content up to read.

Well that should be everything important said.

Let the games begin.


	2. Chapter 1: New Game Plus

**Chapter 1: New Game +**

Cracks in the stone of the streets. Scorch marks burned into various spots across the ground and buildings. Some buildings had crumbled apart, while still standing ones now featured large holes in the walls or roof, a miracle that they also hadn't collapsed. Chunks of these buildings now littered the street of varying sizes, some as big as a person, marketplace stalls were either shattered into pieces, burning, or upturned. If they got through this then repairing the town was not going to be a quick fix.

There in the marketplace, the green humanoid machine's single red eye glared through the view hole of its shield looking for the target, not noticing that she had already manoeuvred around a large broken stone wall.

Stepping out to the side of it, Anna pulled the trigger of a gun styled after her father's Zapper, the resulting energy shot tore through the head of the Sniper Joe. It fell, electricity sparking violently until power faded from its remains.

She ducked behind the wall again for cover as she gathered her thoughts, no sign of any immediate enemies after the many she had already dispatched, their pieces littering the streets.

The first shots had come from the entrance to Hyrule Castle Town. The towers may have been fortified, but against advanced robotics the stone crumbled instantly from the energy shots.

Anna, Zelda and Link had stepped in to fight the invading machines quickly, the guards tasked with evacuating the citizens to the safety of the castle itself.

Eventually even this tactic needed adjusting when the machines began to spread out. At Anna's encouragement and insistence, the two Hylian heroes had fallen back to aid their outmatched knights against the off-world threat and lead the citizens to the safety of the castle and its defences.

Anna's self appointed task was to help clear as many of the attackers as she could while making sure no-one was left behind. Her dress now had tears down the side of the legs, splitting them open to give her legs more freedom to move. This had been a great benefit in taking down as many robots as she had.

She took another look at a small phone like device in her free hand, the signal for her communicator was still being blocked.

Only one step away from the wall, before she had to immediately stop and push herself back against it as she heard the heavy sounds of machinery from the damaged town gates.

Peeking around the corner of this rubble she could see a large floating machine make its way into the town square.

Slowly flying in over the damaged marketplace, scanning it's surroundings was a large mechanical vehicle shaped in the style of a skull. Some type of propulsion based tech keeping it in the air. She couldn't see from here but she knew without a doubt that Dr. Wily was in there.

Taking a safe moment, she moved herself into the midst of a cluster of rubble, hiding herself further as she kept going over her options. This rapid thought process was interrupted by the voice of Wily broadcasting loudly with the machine's equipment "Come out, Princess Keene. Surely you don't want people's lives on your conscience."

The skull shaped machine now had a large cannon sticking out of its mouth, as it turned she could see the maniacal face of the mad scientist through the windows that served as eyes on the skull. "I know you're still here."

Anna stole some glances at the destroyed robots she had taken out, if she was a little more tech savvy she felt like she could've fashioned some sort of amateur device to break through whatever signal block Wily had placed on the area.

A glance towards the castle in the distance, definitely couldn't lead Wily in that direction. A glance towards the gates, nothing but open land in that direction. _Too risky. He'll catch me easily out there._

Her hand tightened it's hold around the grip of her Zapper a little more, one finger remaining near the trigger but not on it. No choice for it then. If she moved carefully and played this tactically, avoided a direct open fight, then she might be able to win this.

A child's scream echoed around the town square.

 _NO!_

Immediately standing up, throwing away her last desperate plan, Anna could see in the rubble of a home, a parent trying to hide while clutching a child close beneath their own body as a shield as Wily's machine now faced towards them with the cannon aimed.

She'd curse herself for not finding everyone later, for now with no hesitation Anna called out to the mad scientist as she let the zapper vanish into thin air "I surrender!"

The machine turned to face her, she stared back unflinching at Wily through the glass "You win, Wily. I surrender"

Wily's smile widened into a grin "A wise choice, Princess. No one wants to see any reckless heroes around here.

* * *

A groan of frustration from the nineteen year old English boy as he rubbed his tired blue eyes with white skinned, pale hands. "This goddamn writer's block."

It was around eight in the morning and he hadn't been long awake. Health wise this was probably a reckless idea to immediately jump on the computer. But he had been struggling so much to write lately that he had hoped forcing an immediate start would do something.

It had not.

"Should've known. Was never a morning person." Running a hand through his short brown hair, yawning, he decided more energy was needed before trying again. Getting up and making his way across the laminated floorboards, he opened the door and left his bedroom.

One shower later and a change into the nearest clothes he had left dumped on the floor, a T-shirt and shorts, he saw that the doors for the two other bedrooms were open. Last one up then, did not surprise him even if he had woken up pretty early.

Slipping glasses on and heading downstairs to the kitchen and dining room, he came across an older white skinned woman and a white skinned girl his age looking up from their breakfast to stare at him, both in pyjama shirts and trousers.

The older woman with neck length black hair that gradated to red at the tips looked at him with grey eyes that showed concern. The girl his age with long pink hair and red eyes looked at him more amused then concerned.

A few seconds of awkward silence passed by before the boy broke it "what?"

"Chad," the older woman began, addressing him by name. "Are you feeling okay?"

Knowing exactly where this was going, Chad Oswald let out a low grumble and moved into the kitchen to grab a bowl.

Whatever concern was in the woman's voice had quickly turned to amusement now "Lucy and I are just surprised to see you awake before-"

"-The sun sets" the girl chimed in, trying to hold back laughter.

"Yes, yes. Thanks Mom, Thanks Lucy. You're both comedic geniuses" Chad tiredly waved them off, sighing as he joined them at the table with a bowl of cereal.

"I actually owe you thanks for this," Lucy spoke up defensively, "Richard now owes me a tenner."

"You made me the subject of a bet?!"

"He was pretty insistent the days of you waking up early were gone forever."

Pausing to have a few spoonfuls of cereal, Chad then looked over to Lucy "I guess I should be flattered you at least took my side of the bet."

"Oh I was going to rig it by setting your alarm without you knowing" Lucy tilted her head, smiling more at him "I wasn't going to let Richard win."

Chad couldn't help but laugh, his friend's persistence at being the best of the group was always a source of amusement. When he wasn't the victim of it anyway.

Knowing her since they were kids, this ended up being pretty often. Lucy Valentine. Chad and her had always grown up close thanks to their parents being close friends; that hadn't changed once she started living with him and his mother after-no, it was the holidays. He wasn't going to let his mind take him down depressing stuff.

"You okay? You seem distracted by something?" She quizzed him for his accidental staring as he got lost in his thoughts.

"Just thinking how it's about to be a new year, another opportunity for you to become an anime character." Chad laughed again as Lucy let out a loud 'ugh' in response. It raised a lot of questions but Lucy's eyes and hair were completely natural. Chad remembered being told as a kid that it was some kind of rare genetic mutation or whatever; he didn't pay much attention to the explanation because it just never bothered him.

It had led to plenty of teasing banter about her life becoming a series of anime clichés though.

Lucy turned her attention back to Chad's mother, resuming their conversation from before Chad's arrival "We're just thinking of watching movies and playing games tonight. Chad's going to get some snacks from the shop, So don't worry about us, Summer. Enjoy a good New Years Eve night out."

"Personally," Chad said after swallowing some more food "My original plan was to enjoy the company of a bottle of cider and writer's block. But your idea sounds better."

Summer Rose-Oswald smiled warmly at the both of them, happy to see the relaxed plans "Well I'm surprised that you're not going to meet up with anyone. But I'm glad you're still going to be relaxing and enjoying yourselves."

Chad shrugged a little "well we did think about it. But Richard's understandably spending time with Ariel."

Lucy picked up from there for Chad "and Blue's usually always kept to himself around this holiday time."

"We did get asked by some of the others but we decided that we could do with just a nice restful night, something small." Chad leaned back, covering his mouth with one hand to yawn a little "plus, I don't think I've got the energy for some get-together."

Summer got up from her seat, having finished her breakfast and nodded to the two of them "Well, I'll leave you to your preparations then. I'm going to get dressed and start my own." She left the room to head upstairs leaving the two childhood friends.

Lucy looked over to Chad, teasing smile gone for now and replaced with a more sympathetic one "Writer's block still hitting hard, huh?"

"It will pass, I'm sure. I mean I'm still getting plenty of ideas, it's just putting them into words" Chad explained, sighing a little despite his confidence "I mean I did have a small dream last night."

"Think you can use any of it?"

"Well~" Chad answered, drawing the word out for a little bit "Might be difficult. It was about Anna and she was on the world of the Legend of Zelda games. But fighting Dr. Wily"

Lucy was the one to sigh this time as she acted like the voice of reason to him "Chad, you've got so many unfinished ideas, you don't have time to put one of your original characters into another crossover fic."

Chad threw his arms up defensively "Hey, it's not my fault. I can't be blamed for my dreams. The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma."

* * *

"I'm sorry, Father. We've still found no location for whatever fortress Dr. Wily is using" an apologetic teenage sounding male voice spoke.

An elderly man dressed in a scientists lab uniform, with white hair and a white beard that would make one think of Santa Claus, sat in a chair before a set-up of monitors and computer systems. He sighed heavily as he turned with the chair to face the speaker, a teenaged boy dressed in a blue bodysuit with armoured boots and gloves. A helmet carried in one hand letting free his black hair "It's okay, Rock. In this situation we're all doing the best we can."

This was Dr. Thomas Light and his robotic creation: Rock, known to many as Mega Man, taken care of as a son by the good doctor. They were two allies of the Game Master: Kevin Keene.

Standing on either side of Rock were his siblings. The blonde haired sister: Roll, dressed in her red, white and black clothing from the Mega Man 8 game. And the brown-haired elder brother: Blues, known to many as Proto Man and dressed in his red body suit, his ever present yellow scarf around his neck and shoulders, and his own helmet was in his hands.

Blues free hand clenched up into a fist "Our best isn't good enough. It's been three days and Anna is still held by Wily and we don't know where."

A voice spoke from the monitor, an on-going communication call Dr. Light had currently running "Anna's sister and my own have been analysing as much data as they can. Unfortunately Dr. Wily is hiding himself well."

There on the screen was a blonde haired young woman dressed in pink with a white lab coat over it. Ciel of the Mega Man Zero games. She looked to the side at something not on-screen with a look of concern "This is the first time I've seen them sleep since the capture, and I think even this is just exhaustion catching up on them."

"Let them rest for now" Dr. Light urged her "It would do no good for Neo Arcadia's leadership to burn themselves out."

Roll spoke up now, equally concerned by everything going on "Father, have we still not been able to make any contact with Lana and Kevin?"

Dr. Light grimly shook his head "When they left on their travels those months ago, they made sure they were 'off the grid'. Until they make contact with us, we have no way of tracking them down."

Blues gripped his helmet tight, his teeth clenching up for a moment. "I know what they're doing is important but you'd think they'd have given us some kind of contact method in the event of danger to their family. For all we know, Chaos could be behind this."

Roll put a hand upon her older brother's shoulder, the attempt at comfort worked as he placed his own upon hers "I know you took the role of protector to Anna upon yourself, Brother. But you can't let this get to you. We'll find her. Whatever Wily has planned, he surely wants her more as a ransom. He'll give away a location somehow."

"Here's hoping" a woman's voiced called out as a tall blonde woman walked in, wearing futuristic red, orange and yellow armour. Samus Aran of the Metroid games, her armour in its iconic Varia form design. She placed her helmet down on a nearby table of this lab like room "I've been 'questioning' multiple people Wily has sold tech to in the past and none of them know a thing."

"Are you sure they were telling the truth?" Dr. Light questioned. The serious look Samus gave him back was enough for him to not press the topic.

Rock looked over to his father again "Link, Zelda, Mario. They and everyone we know and fight with are out there looking. This isn't the usual pattern though, Wily doesn't seem to want to be found this time." His sigh that followed this sounded almost defeated "I'm not sure what else we can do right now."

As the group stood in silence, thinking of different possibilities, a light began to slowly build up in intensity from a nearby chamber with an open vault door.

As the light became a dazzling display of radiance, the group turned to stare in surprise and confusion at the direction. Ciel via the video link looked just as surprised "Is that what I think it is?"

"That's...The Power Glove" Samus murmured, placing her helmet back on to activate her scan visor function to examine the chamber and the relic within.

"But-" Rock stood ready, almost as if waiting for an attack of some sort, unsure on what to expect "-But it hasn't self activated since the time it summoned Kevin?"

With the light, a voice echoed around them. When last they had been spoken to like this it had been a deep booming masculine voice. This time it was noticeably feminine "There are powers at work far beyond what you are currently aware of."

"Who are we speaking to?" Dr. Light questioned, standing up and looking towards the light "You are not the same sentient presence that communicated with us before."

"The Power Glove is not a host but a conduit. I am not associated with the one who called upon you but I am of a similar kind. I can't expect you to have trust but I hope I have your faith. I am a protector of mankind."

As most of the group tried to digest the idea of another godlike entity speaking to them through this ancient relic, Blues was the first to speak up "Then you'd be willing to aid us in locating the princess?"

"I'm sorry to say that I can't directly locate her for you. But I do have an alternate form of aid for this problem. You must remain strong. As this new era of chaos arrives, so too shall new Game Masters."

That got the complete attention of everyone in the room as well as Ciel. It had been assumed the title of Game Master was a one-time occurrence. Kevin Keene, a Hero chosen from a world outside the boundaries of this universe.

"I can not whisk the chosen away to your location, but I can send one of you there to retrieve one. They shall lead you to the princess."

Samus looked over to the others gathered "I thought you told me that there was no way to create a gateway between this universe and Kevin's world anymore?"

The voice interrupted, explaining for them "It will be temporary, but I have enough power to breach the boundaries to that dimension. Who among you will take the dive?"

"I will."

Rock, Roll, and Dr. Light turned to look at Blues, alarmed at his immediate insistence. Roll stepped in front of him "Blues, are you sure about this?"

Blues turned to smile reassuringly at his sister, his Proto Man outfit disappearing to reveal his preferred choice of clothing. A long sleeved white shirt, a black waistcoat and black formal trousers with a black trench coat over this. His yellow scarf and sunglasses remained while white gloves now covered his hands. "I owe Anna my life, if finding this Game Master can help us get her back. I'll take the risk, this leap of faith."

"My son." Blues looked over his shoulder to the elderly scientist speaking to him "We've never had any reason to expect the selection of new Game Masters. Are you sure about this?"

The prototype robot master, the first son of Light nodded back at his creator "Trust me. I'm willing to put my faith in this possibility." Walking towards the light, he spoke out to the voice "Why only locate one?"

"Time shall bring all together soon enough. For now it is this one's time."

"How will I find them?"

"Have faith that you will know."

Blues sighed, not even awe-struck as the light began to form a rippling warp zone in front of him, a tear in the fabric of space-and time. Why did these kind of beings always have to rely on being cryptic?

One final turn back to his family and friends, Blues gave a small wave of his fingers as a salute and jumped forward into the portal. Those gathered watched it close behind him and the light fade as the room returned to normal.

* * *

The arrival to a world outside his universe was not the pleasant appearance he had hoped. Blues had emerged from a warp to find himself face first on dirt.

Slowly standing up, dusting off his clothing, he looked around at the trees he had appeared in-between. A path was almost immediately nearby with buildings closely visible. Well, Blues had to suppose he lucked out in some ways. He was at least in civilisation, a village from the looks of it, the warp had made the effort to drop him out of sight but had been a bit too unceremonious about it.

Looking at his hand he found he was now holding a small crystal. The moment he looked at it, information surged into his mind of how this was his way home, where and how he'd be able to activate it to create another warp. Pocketing it for now, he moved away from the trees.

Stepping out onto the pavement, Blues looked around at the trees, the grass, the dirt, the road, the buildings. There were plenty of normal locations across his universe so it didn't mean much but he was prepared to accept he had made the jump to Kevin's world.

Following some street signs, he made his way down into a village square. With his clothing style, there was the occasional glance but nothing too major to worry about.

His first priority was to investigate a nearby shop, looking at newspapers on sale for information.

It was the last day of December, 2009. Just as Blues had expected it to be. Different earths in their universe were at different years but their days and months always seemed to match up, it was the same with his own. It was the same timescale they were operating under in the Palace of Power.

Plus, looking back at how long Kevin had been with them and the date he arrived being the same to them as it was to him with the exception of a different reading on the year. Yeah this was just as Blues had expected.

"England, huh" he murmured looking at the different headlines about the country. Now that part he hadn't been expecting. Kevin had come from California in America so Blues had just assumed they'd be finding someone in the same general area.

Glancing over the village square, he was wondering how best to approach this. Was he really to check every place in this village until he just felt some kind of calling? He began to move back the way he came, moving up away from the square to the rest of the village. No, there had to be an easier way.

With the way destiny, fate, events in general played out in his universe. Staying true to his wandering ways would probably play out.

Coming up to a bend in the pathway, Blues had to stop suddenly so as not to bump into someone barely paying attention as they walked around the corner and also had to quickly stop themselves, nearly falling over.

Blues looked at the brown haired and blue eyed boy who was frantically and repeatedly apologising as he took earphones away from his ears letting them hang loosely over his jacket, music still faintly playing from them. "Sorry" Chad said yet another time "I was in a world of my own."

Blues assured him it was fine but the words came out slowly and hesitantly, he was distracted staring at the face.

He wasn't the only one distracted, Chad was looking over the outfit "Sorry, Have we met before?"

That got Blues more on edge, more confused at what he was looking at "We shouldn't have. What makes you ask that?"

"Sorry it's just something about your clothing seems familiar" Chad explained, then motioned at Blues face "that and even with shades on, it looks like you've got a look of recognition on your face."

"What's your name?"

"Chad," he answered simply, not giving the full name.

Blues seemed almost relieved, even Chad noticing the difference in body posture "Sorry, I thought you was someone else for a second there."

"Fair enough. I have one of those faces and it's a small village, it happens." Chad moved past Blues, apologising again for the near collision and made his way further down towards the village square.

Blues watched him leave, eyes narrowed as confusion wracked his electronic brain leaving him lost in thought. ' _Have faith that I'll know.' Chad. Who exactly are you?_

* * *

"Now then, Princess, are you willing to speak yet?"

Anna looked over to the metal doorway of her prison as it opened up, a shimmering force field still blocking the exit, Dr. Wily standing on the other side looking at her smiling smugly.

"We have nothing to discuss, Wily" she shifted her position on the bed to look away from the doorway "Whatever ransom you have planned, I won't let you get it."

This just got him more amused judging by the quiet chuckle she could hear "Ah. So that's the reason for these days of silence, you think this is a negotiation." That got Anna to look back over to him "I have played the exchange card before, it never works out like it should."

Anna stood up, taking a few steps closer towards the barrier to look at her captor directly "I don't understand, you don't want the Power Glove?"

"Oh one day I shall indeed claim it and the power your family and friends protect." Wily corrected her "But holding you captive in exchange for it? You'd find some way to give me a fake, or to take it back at the last possible moment." A few wags of his index finger as he made a tutting sword towards her "We're not going to play that game."

Anna crossed her arms, keeping her body straight and upright. She may be a hostage but she was not going to give any ground to Wily in words or posture "So what am I here for? Information on my family? Or has that man, Chaos, come out of hiding and recruited you?"

"Oh no, that's far too easy," Wily was now sneering at her. "I have made contact with your father's world."

An involuntary step back from Anna, surprise knocking her off-balance for a brief moment "That's impossible. The borders between our universes were sealed, not even my father can travel back and forth anymore."

"I was contacted by an entity with the power to traverse between our realms. They are going to deliver to me a brand new Game Master."

Thoughts rapidly filled Anna's mind one after another. Why would a new Game Master need to be summoned? Had something happened to her parents? If everything was okay, then what reason could there be for new ones? Was there a far larger scale to the power of a Game Master? What was the reason for their existence in the first place?

It was only now she was realising just how little they actually knew about the role of a Game Master and the selection process for it.

Wily, not one to miss an opportunity to keep making dramatic speeches, continued to talk "Their only request for me was for you to be here imprisoned with the Game Master. We shall figure out this puzzle of the Game Masters together piece by piece. Their role, your family's role. In the end I shall have uncovered everything about the power of a Game Master."

The look Anna gave back was one he had seen often on the faces of her parents, even on the faces of his rival Dr. Light, of his nemesis Mega Man. Stubborn defiance, a refusal to give any ground "You'll fail like you always do, Wily. I will fight you every step of the way and I won't let you manipulate whoever this is. You will not get what you want."

Wily's own response was to just mockingly bow towards the princess, leaving afterwards with a wide, almost maniacal, grin on his face.

Left to her own devices, Anna just began to pace the confines of her cell, her mind trying to think over as many possible variables as she could for events to come. As soon as the game master arrives, she needed to be ready to get them both out of here. She could only hope they'd be somewhat ready to handle themselves.

* * *

"I'm not ready for this." Chad spoke up from his chair as he gently pushed himself back away from the computer and desk. "Maybe I should just switch to writing something else if block keeps hitting. Maybe go back to those ideas for a Mega Man ZX fanfic.

Lucy looked up, now dressed in a sleeveless purple top and blue shorts with her hair done up in a ponytail, "Didn't your plans for that involve having to first write an X series and then a Zero series fanfic?" She was sitting on his bed with a laptop sitting on her lap, two internet browser tabs open side-by-side; with various information on some kind of mechanical work on one, while the other contained various programming information. "I mean, if you really do need to switch what story you're focused on then that's fine. But maybe not pick the project that's triple the work."

A sigh from Chad as he leaned back in his chair, it creaking a little from how worn it was getting "fair point. I just want to get _something_ actually done."

"I think you just need to enjoy a bit of a rest. Once Blue or Richard come back online, role-plays with them can start up again and you'll get a surge of inspiration."

It was a fair point, all three of them would write their own stories and bounce ideas off of each other, but there would also be role-plays written together. So useful for inspiration but also just for having fun with the writing too.

Lucy was mainly a 'tech geek' as Chad would put it, but she did enjoy writing as well and so would often do role-plays with them as well as offer her own ideas to their stories. At this point Chad decided to switch the topic over to her "Well, how's your current research or studying going then?"

Lucy looked up again with a smile "Pretty well actually, I'm learning a lot. I'll be hacking government databases and building robots by the end of next year."

"Sometimes I really can't tell if you're joking or not."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure our new robot overlords spare us."

"Thanks," Chad said, rolling his eyes. "I don't want to be spending the rest of my life computing pi."

"Oh I think they'll have better standards than using you for processing. Besides-" Lucy shot him such a smug smirk "-Be such a waste to lose my easy wins at any and every game."

"Oh-HO" Chad turned his chair around to face her, a small laugh as he had spoke. Leaning forwards a little he gave a smirk back "I wouldn't say every game but I will say that sounds like a challenge."

"I personally wouldn't use the word challenge." It was in jest but she had put on such a mocking pity to her eyes. "But if it makes you feel better, we'll call you a challenge."

"Oh we're going to make tonight interesting, how about a-" Chad was distracted from the offering of a bet by a soft beep from his computer. Turning to face it he saw a message and a picture had been sent to him through his IM software.

Lucy hearing the beep had looked up to see and immediately come over as soon as Chad had opened the picture. The picture was from within an airport terminal and showed a young twenty year old half-Asian girl with warm brown skin. Her light brown hair resting a bit above her shoulders was a little messy right now which wasn't surprising with how sleep deprived her amber eyes looked right now.

But despite the tiredness, her eyes still matched the smile on her lips in happiness while hand was there in mid-wave to the camera. The sender's name read as Akira Hayami and her message read as " _Hey, I'll be back home in a day or two. Save your money, I expect to be treated to some dinner out. It's going to be great to see you and Lucy in person again. Missed you_."

Lucy looking over Chad's shoulder smiled at the picture and message "aww. It's going to be great to see Akira again. I love your cousin so much."

"Well that's bad news for everyone else then. I mean how can anyone compete with Akira?" Chad light-heartedly replied. Akira wasn't blood related to Chad. She was an orphan raised by a family friend, but the two felt close enough like family that they took to treating each other as if they were cousins. Akira felt being the 'cool cousin' was far more accurate than 'older sister keeping younger brother in line.'

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Come on with the self-deprecation Chad. There's no point in competing when we both know-" She trailed off as for a moment both shifted their gaze to look elsewhere. A brief but uncomfortable silence came over the room.

"So anyway-" Lucy started up.

Summer's voice interrupted from the doorway "Well I'm heading out now." Both looked over to her now in a long sleeveless black dress, nothing overly fancy but regardless a nice outfit to head out in. "You two sure you'll be fine here?"

Chad held his arms out, smiling reassuringly "Mom, come on. It's me"

"Not a confidence booster" she teased him back as she came in and hugged him "But you're right, you always do manage. Love you."

Chad hugged back and smiled, "Love you too," after a few more seconds passed and she was still holding him close, he spoke up again. "Any longer and I'll think you're over-worrying about me."

"I'm always going to worry," She broke the hug and then gave Lucy one who happily reciprocated before they too broke it.

"Take care, Summer. say hi for us." Once Summer had left, Lucy picked up a plastic bag filled of food and drinks off the floor and placed it on the bed "Time to switch off the writer's brain, Chad."

"I know, I know" Chad initiated his computer's shutdown and came over to sit on the bed, grabbing a bottle of Dr. Pepper, shooting a smirk at her. "Sorry I'm not a master at switching off my brain like you."

Lucy lightly punched his arm, smiling "That's only because you kill my brain cells."

The remainder of the afternoon and the evening slowly passed, the two childhood friends spent their time talking and laughing as they watched shows and films, playing games, and despite Lucy's previous comment even discussing more story content ideas.

* * *

Outside, Blues Light had kept a watchful eye on the house from out of sight in the trees, having tailed Chad since the shops in the village. The familiarity of Chad's physical appearance already gave him pause, but seeing the other two as well?

A young girl with pink hair and red eyes, his systems detecting it as natural? In their universe he'd have not thought twice about it. Some worlds might call these colours surprising but to a group that fought across so many worlds it was expected to see such a variety.

But here? Kevin had told them all how ordinary his world was. Then there was the mother, just as natural with how her hair shifted from black to red. No the most concerning part there was how earlier she had stopped.

She had left the home, sliding on a white coat with a hood over her dress, had moved away from the house and stopped.

For a moment Blues was sure her eyes had glanced in his direction before she left for wherever it was she was going. He was sure he hadn't made any sounds, positive he was out of sight. She had only stopped for a moment but Blues couldn't help but wonder if somehow she had known he was there. _This mission is really getting to me, I'm jumping to paranoia._

Nothing was stopping him from just going in there and taking the two of them back to the Palace of Power. But despite the urgency of getting Anna, it didn't feel right to just grab this ordinary human and drag him off. He deserved to know, but honestly it was more that Blues wanted his own chance to try and get more information at the same time. There was something more to all of this.

So he waited. He waited as the clocks hit midnight and the lights and sounds of fireworks reached the sky as a new year began.

He waited until morning came, waited for any signs of movement in the home. Until eventually around eleven in the morning the boy had come outside.

Once again wearing a jacket over a t-shirt and jeans, but no longer glasses, he had waved to someone back inside the house saying something about being back in a little while.

Blues followed the boy as made his way to the main road outside of the village, tailed him with plenty of distance as he made his way up a dirt path to the downland, ridge hills that ran besides this village.

The infuriating part for Blues was the amount of distance he'd have to give as well as resorting to hiding within bushes every so often. Chad seemed to have a habit of looking around and over his shoulder. This boy was unnecessarily paranoid of his surroundings and it made the whole thing far more time consuming.

Finally after waiting for a while to give him plenty of time, Blues made his way up to the top of this path. There was a bench besides a chalk memorial cross carved into the side of the hill that overlooked the village. Well there was something he could relate to the boy on. An appreciation for quiet isolated spots and views.

Chad was simply sitting on the bench with his eyes closed, headphones in his ears once more as he simply relaxed, almost carefree.

Until he opened his eyes and noticed Blues standing nearby. Immediately on his feet, headphones falling out with how fast his head had turned to face him. The over apologetic behaviour from their last meeting was not here this time. Instead a noticeable wariness was on Chad's face and his posture was definitely ready to make any necessary quick movements "It's you again? Are you following me?"

"Is this a privately owned spot?" Blues quipped back at him.

"Well... no," Chad said, only slightly relaxing. "But considering your reaction when we met earlier, I don't think this is a coincidence. Who are you?"

"Blues."

"Taking a friend's name and adding an S at the end isn't going to help you. Try again."

A smirk crossed his face as he spoke a different name, "Proto Man."

"There! was that...so...hard?" Chad slowly trailed off as his body not so much relaxed but lost tension through shock, shoulders lowering "Come again?"

"Blues Light. First son of Doctor Thomas Light. The Prototype, Proto Man."

The shock faded and Chad returned to being alert, ready for a fight actually. He wasn't sure why he of all people had to start the new year off with someone who had lost their mind but he was not going to take any chances. Why was he glowing?

A light surrounded Blues and when it faded; there he now stood in his armour. There stood Proto Man smirking back at Chad's stunned expression.

"It finally happened. I lost my mind," Chad shook his head trying to regain some kind of sense of his life. "This is a dream. Fell asleep on the bench. Almost always the self insert dreams isn't it, Chad?"

"I think you can tell this is too real to be a dream."

"I don't know," Chad said back, smiling. "I have really vivid dreams."

Proto Man studied Chad, the anxious ways his eyes flickered despite the smile on his face. He wasn't sure if Chad truly believed this was a dream or if he was just desperately trying to reason with his failing sense of reality.

Chad wasn't sure either.

"I've come here because, and at the moment I can't believe I'm saying this, I need your help."

That got a chuckle from Chad as he took a few steps to the side, not to try and get an opening to get away but just to aimlessly pace "Alright let's humour this dream out, been a while since I've had a 'taken from normal life' one. Help with what?"

"I come from a universe where so much of what you know as fiction actually has a place in existence. Someone from your world was once summoned to ours for a chosen role. They call it Game Master." A scoff from Chad at that title, Proto Man continued "First thing's first we need your help locating a princess that Dr. Wily has taken. Her name is Anna"

Chad's eyebrow raised at that "Oh, it's a continuation dream too? Been a while since I've had one of those as well. Chosen heroes and rescuing princesses? I honestly thought my mind was better than stuff like this."

"She's more than capable, she just needs back-up. I understand your dislike for the idea of some chosen hero." Pausing as he sighed, the confident smirk now more of a calm smile. "Which is why I'm thinking you'll still help. You don't care for the idea of destiny, but I'm willing to bet you're the type that still wants to help."

A deep heavy sigh from Chad "You got me brain. I just can't not try and help out." He rubbed at his eyes, groaning frustratingly. _Definitely should've taken that suggestion about therapy._ Taking his hand away to look back at this dream of his and the green glow slowly surrounding the area they were in "Alright, tell me what we-" _Wait. green glow?_

Proto Man noticed Chad's distracted eyes, then mentally cursed for not noticing sooner. Walls of green light had been slowly forming a circular wall around their general area. This was an arena. His systems detected extra sources of energy to these barriers and as the walls connected up he realised too late what they were now in "This is a bounded field."

Bounded Field, Chad had heard those terms thrown around in multiple different pieces of fiction. Special barriers that could prevent people entering or leaving, hiding something from sight. One of their more common variants was that once the field was formed it would become separate from reality. Scenery inside the field was nothing but a recreation. Usually this would mean that once the field had dissipated then all damage to the scenery would be contained within that alternate space, but there was always the rare moments it wouldn't be contained and bring that damage out anyway.

A whistle called out from higher up on the field and both looked up to see a new arrival. A young man in armour of a similar make to Proto Man's. Grey body suit, purple segments of armour. the front of his purple helmet covered with a white plate giving a skull like design to it. Long teal coloured hair came out of the back of the helmet kept in a rigid metal like form by this armour. There in his hands was a scythe, the blade made of a pale blue energy.

Chad took a nervous step back. Dream or not, he was not keen on coming up against a fighter looking at them with sharp red eyes and a way too enthusiastic grin. Despite himself, he was the first to speak "Prometheus?!" Pointing at him then to Proto Man and then back again "How can someone from Mega Man ZX be around at the same time as the Classic series?"

Proto Man's right arm formed into a buster, raising up to aim at the very likely threat "I don't have time for this."

Prometheus spun the scythe in his hands, holding it behind his back as he stood ready for combat "Well good, neither do I. Chad's got places to be and you've got a palace to be going back to."

An energy shot zipped out from the end of Proto Man's buster, the scythe was swung forward to cut through it. Already more shots were coming as the red prototype began running up the hill firing more and more.

Prometheus continued to swing and spin his scythe with one hand, cutting through and deflecting each shot as they harmlessly crashed against the barrier or burnt the ground around them.

Dark fire danced across the fingers of Prometheus's free hand until it formed a ball in the palm of his hands. His hand flicked out and that fire shot away fragmenting into four skull shapes that surrounded Proto Man at each diagonal direction.

Prometheus's fist closed and by his command they began to converge upon his opponent. Proto Man had already begun to move into action. Diving towards the ones coming from his right his shield had swung out to crash against them. Barely keeping his feet on the ground from the blasts, he spun around just in time to catch the two from his left.

His shield blocked them but with no time to get a proper footing the blast knocked him back.

The dark reploid known as Prometheus whistled, almost impressed as Proto Man flipped himself backwards in mid-air and landed on his feet "It's a shame I'm on the clock. Always wondered what it would be like to fight the genuine you."

Chad during all this had moved himself a little further down the hill, close to one of the walls of the barrier and as he crouched there he hoped it was enough to keep him out of the crossfire. _Okay dream, anytime you want to make me not a bystander, it would be appreciated. Unless of course this isn't a-no don't even entertain such a ridiculous idea._

Proto Man hadn't responded to Prometheus, at least not vocally. The building humming sound of his buster charging up a shot was enough of an answer for Prometheus to dive down at him.

Swing of the scythe met the block of a shield, the scythe changed hands and came just as fast from the other side, Proto Man's legs carried him closer to the wild fighter and then swung up to kick.

Red armoured boot met the handle of the scythe as it spun in Prometheus's hands to get in the way, pushing him back but little more. Still the buster charged, escalating into a synthetic whine.

Vanishing and re-appearing several steps away with teleportation, Prometheus summoned four swords made of fire into the air launching them at him.

First one was swiftly side-stepped, immediately springing off his foot into spinning himself in mid-air to dodge the second. Heat passing him by said that was too close for comfort but there was no time as he had already landed and rolled forward to dodge the third. Not so lucky this time as it grazed his shield arm. The burning pain overtook his strength and he released the shield from his grip.

But it didn't matter, he had rolled to just a few steps away from Prometheus and as the final flaming sword came down towards his feet, his buster aimed and released a charge shot screaming into the air.

An explosion of energy kicking up dust and dirt and even the chalk in the hills as it crashed against Prometheus, broken of concentrated guidance the flaming sword simply stabbed into the ground at Proto Man's feet.

One arm hanging at his side still with a sensation of burning running through it, while the other still remained a buster aiming at the source of the explosion. _Not enough to take him down, but maybe enough to end the fight._

But of course it wasn't that simple, nothing ever was. The dust cleared and Prometheus stood there still grinning widely. His helmet was no longer there letting his long hair flow freely, no longer rigid and metal. There were chips and cracks across his entire armour and parts of his body suit were definitely singed...But he still grinned like someone having the time of their life.

"Oh that was good" Prometheus scythe shortened down into just a handle that clipped onto his belt. Now clapping he continued to praise his foe "Truly I am impressed, it's a shame to end this now. Next time we'll have an all-out proper fight."

"If you haven't noticed, I still have the advantage."

The clapping stopped as his left hand raised up, fingers ready to click "do you now?"

The realisation hit Proto Man just before the attack did, as he looked down at the flaming sword. A light immediately engulfed it as it exploded, launching him into the air with damaged armour and the visor broken over one eye.

Proto Man fell back towards the ground, feeling a distortion in time-space surround him. Whatever Prometheus had done, he had damaged the crystal. There was just enough time in his fall to look over to Chad.

Chad stared back as Proto Man was engulfed in a rift in the fabric of space-time itself, his shield following the same fate. The rift wasn't the part that bothered Chad though. It was that last look in his eyes. One silent last request.

"Hey, pal."

 _Ah shit._ Chad looked up at the face of Prometheus now standing in front of him, towering over him thanks to the angle of the hill "As part of my dream, don't suppose we could talk this out?"

"Nah, not my style. But if it's talking you want" His hand stretched out to Chad and a dark energy radiated out from it, washing over Chad who began to feel unnaturally drowsy, collapsing to his knees. "Take it up with my sister and the boss."

His vision went black and he collapsed to the floor, falling into unconsciousness.

* * *

"All you had to do was make the crystal break. Why did you have to go and make it a fight, brother?"

 _That's a new voice, soft, who is she?_ Chad was barely conscious, felt like he would slip away again any moment now. But it was enough to be aware of voices, aware of the cold steel his face was lying against.

"Sis, we've had to spend all this time preparing for this day. I deserved a good fight. Everything still went to plan, Chad's identity is known but we're still the ones that get to send him."

Oh that voice was definitely Prometheus's, and if Chad was being honest? It was really grating to hear it in this groggy state, enough for a tired groan to escape his lips.

"Oh? He's coming around. You can stop worrying now, Pan."

"All you used was a simple sleeping spell." She said matter-of-factly. "I wasn't worried."

"Oh you better not be back-sliding to the 'I'm not attached' personality."

Chad groaned again, enough strength to push himself up onto his knees. His body swaying slightly as his eyes half-opened, a tired pressure begging him to close them again and just rest. "can you...stop talking? No one wants...to hear your...voice," Chad said, his words slurred in his daze.

His vision was enough to tell Prometheus was right next to him, his armour gone, a purple and red jacket now over his body suit. Chad was pretty sure he was being smirked at by him. "Ah, that attitude. You honestly don't know how nostalgic it is to hear."

"I've got...plenty more." A movement of green and white distracted Chad from proving that as Pandora knelt down in front of him, gentle hands on his shoulders to steady him. Even in this daze, he could see the shift of her expression from distant loneliness; beautiful in an ethereal way, to one of relief. As though this was the first time in a long time she had felt at peace.

"Don't strain yourself, you're still under the effects." Chad wanted to protest the ridiculousness of feeling groggy in a dream but couldn't find the words, particularly when her arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug. "I'm so sorry it has to be like this, but I am happy to see you."

"You both deserve...so much better" Chad tiredly murmured, his mind dwelling on how a majority of his ideas for a ZX story revolved around Pandora and Prometheus surviving, to atone, to be saved from the influence of a mad man. It was no surprise to him that with all his current thoughts about them, that his dreams would involve them.

Pandora moved back from him, still holding his shoulders to keep him steady. "I hope you can still feel that way after this, if you can still trust me."

A new sound, boots walking across steel, slowly getting closer to him until a new figure stood behind Pandora. Even with eyes wanting nothing more than to shut; Chad couldn't mistake the sight of a Black Coat from Kingdom Hearts.

Yagami looked down at him, then tilted their head to look at Pandora "it's time."

Pandora's hand moved to the pocket of Chad's jacket and he felt something slipped into it "We'll meet again."

Chad was pulled to his feet by Yagami, not by any physically means, simply an out-stretched hand manifested energy around Chad to guide his body.

Turning to face the gateway, now containing a swirling vortex of energy, Chad was made to take step by step towards it. Yagami followed him, close enough to be like a shadow behind him "You're not the first Game Master, you won't be the last. This is not about being a hero, that's not what they're chosen for."

It was so hard to fight the tiredness. Chad wanted answers, wanted to put the doubts in his heart of the nature of this dream to rest. But the energy, the tiredness prevented any speech from him. He could do nothing but listen while Yagami moved him step by step "If actions have consequences, then there will certainly be chaos and corruption to come from this. If these actions will be treated as evil, then so be it. it's time to bring an upheaval."

Chad's feet stopped at the portal's edge, the energy almost reaching out; welcoming him in. Yagami spoke one last time. "That's hell you're walking into."

And Chad fell forward into the light, taken from this universe.

* * *

"It's not possible."

Again with the talking while he was returning to conscious thought. Chad supposed he at least had to be grateful this time there was a more comfortable feeling of a bed beneath him.

Not a truly comfortable bed but it was certainly a step up from the steel floor moments earlier.

"How could you be-" the girl's voice trailed off in confusion.

Chad let out a groggy moan of complaint as his head felt like it was pounding this time. He really didn't want to open his eyes, knowing his luck he was likely to fall unconscious a third time.

Someone's hands touched his shoulders as he shifted a little, trying to keep him steady "Easy. Don't push yourself."

"Oh okay," Chad said, his voice so drained but still that spark of sarcasm. "I'll just lie here then."

"Your name. Do you know your name?"

Another groan from Chad but he complied, "Chad Oswald."

Pushing himself up onto his shoulders, he finally and reluctantly opened his eyes. His blue eyes staring into a pair of green eyes before him. Eyes that looked almost expectantly at his before turning to disappointment but partially relieved at the same time, she spoke but he was positive it was to herself "...Of course not."

Anna stepped back to give him space, looking at Chad. His eyes were staring at her so wide, so confused. But then she had to wonder if she was masking her own confusion.

Chad couldn't form words; the spell from earlier had faded, this was simply confusion and shock overwhelming the ability for his brain to form a coherent sentence.

That same insistent part of his mind flared up again; this was just a dream. It had to be. But every other part of his mind refused to co-operate, how many years had he imagined her now? He had spent years writing her, years dreaming of story scenes involving her. It was only yesterday morning he had woken up from a dream of her being captured by Dr. Wily.

He had seen her enough in dreams to know, with his mind free of that tiredness, that something felt different this time.

This was real. He was staring at her actual face. Her admittedly tired and dishevelled appearance, but regardless still the beauty he expected. He was staring at one of his own created characters.

Anna Keene smiled reassuringly to him as she held out a hand "Well, my name is Anna Keene. I promise you that we're going to get out of this together."

* * *

 **Author's Notes :**

Note 1: Summer's appearance is based upon Summer Rose from RWBY, just aged up from the picture they show. Not the same character though. Old readers will recall I tend to enjoy making AU versions of characters.

Note 2: Protoman's casual outfit is based upon his casual wear from the Megaman Gigamix manga.

Note 3: Akira Hayami's appearance is based on the character of the same name from the .hack games. The appearance is a mixture of her offline appearance and her online avatar: Blackrose.

Note 4: Chad, Lucy and Anna are my characters. Richard and Ariel are Dragonridley's. Blue belongs to Blue The Hedgehog


	3. Chapter 2: The Opening Act

**Chapter 2: The Opening Act**

The silence was starting to get uncomfortable for Anna. Here she had been pacing about, trying to formulate a plan of escape for when the Game Master would arrive...only for a sudden vortex of energy to drop an unconscious boy, definitely close to her age, on the bed.

Wily had wasted no time, his voice being played out by speakers around her cell, to taunt her at the successful capture of a Game Master. At how his plans were all coming together. One final taunt about how he'd leave her to sit around in panic for a while and the communication had cut.

Panic she had indeed done. Honestly she could've handled the fact she hadn't come up with any kind of successful plan yet. But that on top of this boy's...familiar...appearance? How could anyone blame her for not being prepared.

And now this boy who had called himself Chad had just kept staring at her since she had introduced herself, it was starting to get concerning.

"Keene... you said?"

 _Oh good, he's still with us._ She wasn't sure why her surname was the part he was lingering on but at least it was a response from him. "Um yes, that's right?"

"The names Hael or Valentine don't ring any personal bells, do they?"

"Should they?"

Chad moved into sitting upright now, wearily rubbing his eyes "Guess not," he answered.

Anna crossed her arms, putting a hand to her chin as she looked over him in thought. _I'd like to start trying to figure out things but we really need to get out of here while Wily's busy praising his ego._ "Um," she started and watched as Chad looked up to her. "I know this must all be very confusing right now, but we can't waste time. When my father was summoned, he was gifted weapons during the transfer between universes. Do you have any kind of fighting skill or weapons?"

"...If this is hopefully still a dream, I should be capable of a lot," Chad answered, his voice light but slightly hesitating. Oh Anna knew that tone of voice, that was definitely someone trying to convince themselves. "But I don't think so? I mean I used to study the Wadō-ryū style of Karate. But I'm not optimistic on that getting me through this".

Anna was right back to pacing in thought. They could easily get out of this cell, yes. But the entire fortress? She would've struggled to do that by herself, but trying to protect what was basically a civilian at the same time? Never going to happen. She had hoped the Game Master would've had the same luck as her father. _Well I suppose if he had, he would've been dropped off right in the Palace of Power._

Chad meanwhile was distracted glancing around the cell, taking in his surroundings, noticing how in his rising confusion, and admittedly: panic, that he was very aware of all his senses. Of how real everything felt around him.

One hand shakily returned to his head, this time to just hold onto it as his eyes blinked rapidly, hoping he'd suddenly wake up and find this really had been a weird dream or hell, he'd even accept an extreme mental breakdown.

But no, here he still was sitting in front of Anna Keene, not Anna Hael or Anna Valentine...but Anna Keene? He'd have found her pacing oddly cute if not for the situation.

Chad's hand lowered back down and bumped against something in his pocket, Remembering vaguely that something had been given to him, his hand slipped in to retrieve some kind of blocky metal object that fit most of his hand. Most of it was red in colour while the side parts were black, the front plate of it protruded forward like some kind of mechanical face. A yellow boomerang shaped segment rested above two horizontal green lights as though functioning as eyes. The device seemed cracked and damaged, as though it was barely holding on.

Anna noticed Chad withdrew it and came over to look at it, puzzled "Wait, I know this technology. I've seen the early designs for it back at Neo Arcadia. Biometal." She looked to Chad for an explanation.

"It was passed to me before I was thrown in the portal, I almost forgot. But this is-" he trailed off. Biometals were from Mega Man ZX, and were a technology that used something known as the Rebirth of Crystallised Knowledge System. The R.O.C.K system. They would store the data, the soul, of advanced robots known as reploids within each one. Using this, people that had a DNA match with the device could call upon living armour based on that original being for the wielder to wear, along with all the abilities.

But that's where this got Chad so confused... this wasn't a Biometal from canon. The machine it was based on was, sure. But not the existence of this Biometal. He looked up to Anna's face, realising he still hadn't finished explaining "Sorry. it's um...a little difficult to explain right now. But it is a weapon if that helps?"

Anna smiled, things were looking up. That just left one final problem. Standing upright, she took a deep breath and stared down at Chad completely serious "What I'm about to ask doesn't come easy. it will be dangerous but it needs to be said. We can escape...But I'll need your help. Will you fight alongside me?."

 _It's a dream_ Chad told himself again. _Don't think of any other possibility. You're not sure, you know this. So make yourself believe it. The only way you're getting through this is to deceive yourself_.

Chad got to his feet and smiled at her as reassuringly as he could "Can't promise I'll be much help... but okay, We're breaking out of here like a hit song by The Protomen." She stared at him puzzled. "Forget it, let's do this thing. I'm with you."

She smiled back and summoned her gun back to her hand. Wily couldn't suppress the ability to summon a weapon she had tethered directly to her soul. She just couldn't risk using it earlier when she knew there was little chance of escape.

Chad held the Biometal in front of him, if this was exactly what he thought it was then the command phrase should be exactly as he heard it in the first game. "Rock on!" With that call, the Rebirth of Crystallized Knowledge system activated and the device disappeared into a light that grew to encompass Chad.

When this light faded, Chad now stood in a black body suit with a red sleeveless armoured jacket over it, gold plating lining around the edges of it, armoured red and gold bracers around his wrists, the armoured boots were more streamlined in design but shared the same red and gold colours. The final part of the outfit was a streamlined red helmet, a boomerang shaped piece of metal at the front above his eyes, and a green gem embedded in the helmet above that.

Information flooded Chad's mind, the knowledge of how to wield this armours weapons and abilities and for a moment one man appeared within his mind. The illusion of a young man wearing similar armour, smiling with green eyes. Their body was slowly fragmenting apart into data but despite this a voice echoed clearly throughout Chad's mind _"One last operation. Make me proud."_

Anna stared at the armour, admittedly impressed. Seeing the blueprints for it had not prepared for actually witnessing it, but there was something she had to question him on "That design...it resembles one of Dr. Wily's machines. Quickman?"

Chad glanced over to her "It's complicated, I'll explain later." Chad found it remarkably easy to just will a golden blade to manifest sticking out from each bracer, then to summon a boomerang shaped blade of the same colour into his left hand, "What next?"

Anna aimed her gun at the energy shield "Just follow my lead."

A charged up shot of energy fired out at the shield, Chad's boomerang quickly followed as support, the shield overloaded and burst apart leaving an open exit for the two captives who immediately rushed through as alarms began to fill the room and the corridor leaving it.

In the corridor two Sniper Joes activated and turned to face the escapees, aiming their busters. Anna's next shot pierced through the singular optic of one and blew apart the head. The second found its entire head separated from its body as the sharp bladed boomerang flew through it.

Anna led the way up nearby stairways, Chad followed her while trying to remain focused despite being amazed at how smooth and light his movements felt in this armour.

"Do you know where we're going?" Chad called out to her, then skidded to a halt when a turret popped out of the wall ahead of them.

The shots never hit, Anna projected a barrier in front of them and held back the rapidly firing assault. The moment it paused to reload she had already released another shot to pierce through the part holding it to the wall.

The turret dropped but already a robotic body with tank treads was driving towards her from a path to the left, the twin cannons raising to aim on her. Chad couldn't get a clear shot, he called out Anna's name but she was already reacting.

Her free hand summoned a one-handed sword to it and then as if propelled by some kind of psychic force it soared down the path and cut through the Bunby Tank.

Anna lowered the barrier and watched as the sword disappeared into the nothingness she had summoned it from. Turning she tilted her head a little as Chad just stared blinking at her "What?"

"S-sorry. I just...wow."

Anna smiled softly then turned down to the pathway that once held the turret "come on, we're not out of this yet." Both took off again, following whatever pathway Anna decided to take them on each time new divergent paths opened up, doing their best to quickly take down any threat.

"Do we even know where we're going?" Chad asked again after only just blocking a shot with the arm blades in time, retaliating with a boomerang to tear the attacking machine apart.

"I only have a rough idea," Anna admitted as she covered Chad by projecting a barrier to block more shots from two flying machines with three cannons attached to them, known as Tripropellans. The two worked together to step in-between the next assault and destroy them with another energy shot and boomerang. "The Skull Fortresses are all designed differently but there's some basic patterns I can recognise."

Chad breathed out a sigh of relief, at least they were making progress then "That's good. Wily's really throwing a lot at us."

"Sorry to say, this is actually a lot less than I was expecting."

"Seriously though?!"

Anna nodded, leading Chad down a nearby ladder to a lower level of the base "Zelda, Link and I must've done more damage to his army than I thought" the corner of her lip turned up into a slight smile. She could take some pride in that.

As they progressed through the base, Chad hated to admit it due to the danger...but...he was oddly having a sense of fun. He had taken a few shots to the armour which thankfully held, there was definitely an ever-present threat, but it was fun. Maybe it was the insistence on it being a dream. _Which it absolutely is._

"Oh no."

The worry in Anna's voice brought Chad back to reality, but what really brought Chad's mood crashing down was when he heard what Anna was hearing: a very familiar sound Chad only describe as some kind of bwooorp.

It was incredibly disheartening to walk into a room that suddenly dropped off into a large pit of spikes, the exit on the other side of this artificially made chasm...and the source of the sound being blocks that kept disappearing and reappearing in mid-air above the spikes.

Chad's face went pale "You're kidding me." The blocks continued to disappear and reappear in some kind of pattern, one Chad would've began to memorise if not for the overwhelming rage, yelling out "they exist?!"

Anna took a few step backs away from the chasm, she whistled to get Chad's attention. Once he was looking at her she put on a reassuring smile again "Don't worry, I can get us through this. Watch our backs."

Anna sprinted forward towards the chasm and jumped but not towards any blocks. She just jumped out into the chasm. She continued to fly forward, some kind of energy surrounding her as she floated her way across the gap with some sort of psychic force.

Chad was the one to whistle this time except his was out of awe "I know Lucy and I came up with her, but goddamn I'm still impressed."

A charge shot his back. The armour held, but the pain still shot through him sending him stumbling towards the gap, it was pure luck that Chad managed to just force himself to buckle to the ground, slamming a bladed arm into the ground to hold himself still on the surface at the edge.

Chad turned to see multiple machines coming from the hallway behind him into this room. A barrier projected by Anna materialised to hold their path "Chad!" Chad turned back to look at her flinching face as she loudly shouted out to him from across the way "I can't float you over and keep this barrier up at the same time." Chad suspected she wouldn't be able to hold the barrier for long either.

Returning to his feet, Chad called back "I'll think of something. Just hold the barrier as best you can!"

He looked across the chasm, looked to the spikes below and the blocks still in their pattern, and began to weigh his options. _Okay. The boots have small air dash features, won't get me across the entire gap. Can't go back. Don't have the ability to block all those shots myself so Anna definitely can't switch to levitating me. So that means._ Chad gulped and swore under his breath as he looked at the blocks.

 _No, no it's fine. You've done this a million times in the games Chad. You've also died to them a lot more than that but surely you've got all of that out of your system._

"Chad, if you're going to do something, do it soon!"

Her face was straining more and more, the barrage of attacks was wearing down her focus on the barrier. No choice then, the disappearing blocks it was.

Staring intently at them, blocking out the sounds of the attacks on the barrier behind him, Chad focused on the sounds of the blocks, the time between the sounds and their appearances, the pattern in which they materialised.

Three cycles of the blocks looping pattern passed and Chad knew he couldn't wait any longer for fear of the barrier collapsing. The final block disappeared.

Chad jumped forward and landed on the first block, kicked off immediately to spring himself to the second block that had quickly appeared. The third block appeared below him, he allowed the second to disappear and drop him onto it.

Pushing every reflex he had, he jumped to the side to the fourth one, then ahead to the fifth one.

The sixth one he just barely landed on, he hadn't judged the distance well-enough. His foot slightly stumbled as he got his bearing and jumped for the seventh, the final block.

The half-second of stumbling had cost him, the seventh block disappeared and Chad fell. Anna's panicked voice yelled out his name. Whether it was the armour's knowledge or survival instincts, some part of Chad's mind quickly guided him into activating a short burst of boosters on the armoured boots.

The burst of energy propelled Chad, technically air-dashing, towards the wall. His hands stretched out and pressed against the steel. Magnetism features in the armour attached him to the wall and slowed his descent.

Another booster burst as he pushed himself up, grabbing higher on the wall. Another one, more height. One final burst and he had somehow managed to pull off wall-jumping to the top of the wall. Once he had climbed up, he simply laid there for a moment.

"Chad?! Are you okay?"

Chad's first response was just a small almost hysterical laugh in-between deep breaths "holy shit. I can't believe that worked."

Anna released the barrier and helped Chad up, the shots too far to accurately hit them as they began to move down the hallway "Come on, you can't keep this up. We've got to get out of here."

The final hallways went by threat free, leading them to a large open room. It was relieving to see some kind of teleport pod like machine in the far corner.

What wasn't relieving was what also stood in the room.

The rival of Mega Man; a human looking robot in black and gold armour, Bass stood there with his loyal partner besides him; a purple and white robotic wolf: Treble. "Not bad, Princess. I told the old man he was underestimating how much trouble you'd be."

"Get out of the way, Bass. Unless you also want trouble."

Bass chuckled darkly, forming his right hand into a buster "Oh no I meant trouble for the old man. You're no trouble for me. Remember-" he raised that buster arm to point at them "-I not only match but also exceed Mega Man's power."

"And yet you still haven't beaten him," Chad mockingly called out.

"Chad, WHY?!" Anna complained at him moments before Bass unleashed a rapid-fire of shots from his buster.

Chad and Anna dived apart from each other, Chad defensively calling back "It's not my fault, the opportunity was there!" A boomerang was called to his hand, he threw it.

Treble dived up and caught it in his mouth, crushing it between his teeth, Bass continued to open fire on Anna who made sure to keep running around the room. Throwing small localised barriers up if any shots got too close.

Chad tried another two boomerangs this time, one was batted away while the other was again crushed in the wolf's mouth. Having enough of Treble playing with him, Chad switched plans.

Boosters on his boots activated to accelerate Chad into a dash towards Bass. "Stand down, Treble" Bass confidently ordered his growling partner. Chad swung a bladed arm towards Bass only for Bass's hand to bat his arm to the side.

Bass's free hand punched forward as a fist, Chad side-stepped it and swung his leg around in a roundhouse kick, relying on the speed of this armour.

Bass's grin widened into a smirk, his own boosters activating as he lowered his stance. The kick went right over his head and Bass's entire body rammed into Chad. Bass didn't relent, grabbing the falling game master and slamming his buster hand against his stomach.

Chad coughed violently, the wind knocked from him. It didn't end there, Bass released a salvo of shots that at this close range blasted Chad back and to the floor, skidding to a halt, groaning in pain.

Multiple shots came at Bass, a bark from Treble alerted him into rolling to the side. Bass turned to aim at Anna only to see two large computer consoles being flung right at him psychically.

He jumped back firing at the first console, blowing it up into pieces. Unfortunately for him, the second one had it's trajectory altered by Anna, the explosion masking it as it moved and came at Bass diagonally.

It slammed into him and kept flying with him over to the other side of the room where they both crashed to the ground. Treble ran over to the crash site.

"Chad! speak to me!" Anna called out. He didn't answer with words but the raise of his hand into a thumbs-up and a groan was good enough.

The computer console began to shift. Anna ran over to Chad and helped him up "come on, we have to get out of here."

Chad was dazed, pretty sure he'd have been nursing broken ribs if not for the armour that now seemed to be cracking apart. He had enough in him though to quickly follow Anna over to the teleport pod.

The computer console went flying away, crashing into a different wall and falling into more pieces. Chad and Anna turned to face Bass.

A green aura faded around Bass; a temporary burst granted by the Bassnium energy source that flowed through him. His helmet was cracked and given the enraged look on his face; so was his sanity.

"Come, Treble!" Upon Bass's command, Treble shifted into nothing but purple energy, becoming one with its master. The gold of Bass's armour shifted to purple while purple wings formed on his back.

Bass hovered up higher into the air and looked down upon them "The doc' said not to kill you. Didn't say anything about a little wear and tear!"

Once more he unleashed an assault of buster fire on them, except with a key difference. Now the shots were coming out in sets of three, a spread formation, but still with that rapid fire.

Chad pushed the speed of the Model Q Biometal to its limits, trying his best to avoid the storm of energy, shots grazing his arms and legs at times. The armour was cracking more and more, it couldn't last much more damage or the extent to which Chad was pushing it.

Anna couldn't find any openings to shoot at Bass or use her psychic powers to efficient use, the best she could do was keep forming small barriers repeatedly to block shots. But the timing and the strain was getting difficult, shots were getting through.

Chad seeing this, shifted his angle of running to head for Bass. More shots hit him but the speed got him past a majority as he jumped up at the attacker and swung both arm blades at the same time. Bass flew to the side to dodge and began to turn to face him.

The moment Chad had passed him, he formed two bladed boomerangs in each hand "This will be so cool if it works" Chad mumbled to himself, landing on the ground and turning to throw one of them at Bass.

Bass sighed and flew higher so the boomerang went underneath him, the second boomerang was thrown and came right for him. Bass snatched it out of the air and looked down at Chad, disappointed in how obviously telegraphed the attacks were "Really?"

The first boomerang on its return path changed trajectory and curved upwards; slamming into Bass's back and cutting off one of the wings. He struggled to keep himself upright in the air now with half his stability gone.

Chad smirked up at Bass, holding a third blade boomerang in his hand "Yeah, I can make these magnetise to each other, it's a neat trick."

Bass was too busy swearing repeatedly to give Chad's explanation any notice, he also was too distracted to react in time to multiple pieces of broken computers to slam into him again through psychic force.

Anna wasted no time in rushing over to Chad and pulling him into the teleport pod as she began rapidly typing on the holographic keyboard. Chad kept an eye out on Bass slowly getting back up "...Anna," he slowly said.

"Wily scrambled the codes, the destination is just randomised."

"Anna?"

My sister is better at this, I need time to reprogram it!"

"Anna!"

Anna glanced over her shoulder to see the fury on a now standing Bass, who was quickly getting closer. "Random it is." Anna's hand slammed on the teleport button and before Bass could unleash any kind of attack to stop them...they disappeared in a burst of light.

* * *

The light touched down upon the sand; Chad and Anna emerging from it, only for Chad to immediately collapse to his knees as the Model Q Biometal deactivated. The powerless metal artifact fell to the floor in front of him.

There was a moment of worry for Anna as she checked to make sure Chad was okay. thankful that he was just getting his breath back, she surveyed their sandy surroundings.

It was a LOT of desert. There was a half damaged spherical metallic base of some sort nearby though. Chad picked up the Biometal and pocketed it, moving onto his feet "ugh, think the wind got sand in my mouth. So any ideas where we are?"

"Not sure," Anna answered. She motioned over to the building "but for the moment we can try for shelter there. Might find something we can use to contact my friends. With any luck, our teleport might have already alerted the sensors of someone friendly."

It was as good a plan as any, Chad supposed. "And if it's alerted an enemy?"

"Then we're going to need the rest before they show up."

The base wasn't just damaged. It was decrepit. Pieces of walls and the ceiling were missing, the sand had reclaimed some of the hallways. Most of the furniture was damaged or outright in pieces, impressive for a lot of it being made from solid metal. Computer systems were either broken or a glitched and inoperable mess of code.

The central room was at least in decent enough condition. Nothing useful for them but it offered a place to sit and rest for a moment.

For having been unconscious twice today, Chad was surprised at just how much he needed this rest. Sitting on steel floor and leaning up against a metal block felt more comfy than it should after the events of this day.

Anna sat opposite him, a decent amount of room between them yet still close enough to keep an eye on him and talk...and now was a perfect time for it. "So," she started to get his attention "thanks for your help there."

Chad smiled but shook his head, "sorry I wasn't capable of more, probably not the kind of help you were hoping for."

"Don't be so negative. You were dragged from your world and thrown into this mess, you handled yourself well all things considered."

Chad averted his eyes for a moment "I guess." There was a brief pause "Anyway, I'm the one impressed. I knew you'd be skilled but you're better then I imagi- ...was told."

Anna's expression turned quizzical, eyebrows raised as she tilted her head "told?"

"Oh right, sorry. Proto Man came to get me before I got captured." Anna looked alarmed, Chad waved his hands a little, smiled and spoke again "I'm pretty sure he's fine. He disappeared and it seemed from what I could hear that he was being sent back home."

Anna sighed in relief, brushing some of the unkempt hair away from her face "So that means Wily wasn't just making things up. They must've heard about this new Game Master selection too?"

"Yeah...about that," Chad called her attention back "I've been trying to keep calm by holding onto the idea this is a dream" Chad's hand rubbed against his stomach, flinching a little "and honestly Bass's attacks have made that pretty hard to maintain. But I think it's about time I got filled in a little here?"

Anna nodded, she couldn't argue with that. She moved a bit closer and clasped her hands in her lap "What do you know so far?"

Chad tilted his head up, absently looking at the rusting ceiling while he thought back over the recent events "Not much, it kinda all happened pretty fast. Something about being chosen for a role. A really cheesy title of 'Game Master.' That's about it."

She sighed, she was hoping he'd be a lot more in the loop than that. Well, they had time. "In the year 1987 of your world's calendar. A young man by the name of Kevin Keene was pulled into this universe from yours, by a relic called: The Power Glove."

"It's so bad."

"What?"

"Nothing, sorry. I joke around a lot with references, continue."

Anna cleared her throat, not understanding Chad much right now. "A sentient being spoke through the Power Glove, they claimed Kevin was chosen for a role they deemed 'The Game Master.' Kevin joined up with Princess Lana Lansfeld, a guardian of the relic. Together they and any heroes they aided and worked with began to fight back evil that surfaced. They are my parents."

"So what's the significance of the title then? If you expect me to be this Game Master; I assure you that my gaming skills have been extremely over-estimated."

"That...we're still not sure on," Anna spoke truthfully "It was originally believed it was because in your universe the people he fought alongside exist as video games, but my father long since discovered that everything he thought was fictional exists here. So it's not limited to just games."

Chad didn't immediately answer, mulling over this in his head. A universe where fictional content existed for real, he could accept that. With everything he had been seeing it would be hard not to. But to come across what was undeniably one of his OCs with a whole new life? That part was going to take more figuring out. "So basically: all we can say for certainty is that some kind of higher power is choosing people from my universe to be warriors. Heroes, I guess."

"Correct, but your arrival does give us more to work with. Before now; my father was the only Game Master. We can start to look for connections, see if you share similar powers." Anna looked down at the ground, her eyes half closed in concerned concentration "It's possible you might have been summoned due to a threat my family have been facing. A man who has come to be known as Chaos."

 _Someone is definitely playing a sick joke on me._ Of all the clichés to encounter, a threat by the name of Chaos. One of the most overused typical names for a villain to have, and Chad should know; it was one he kept using for his stories. _Me, Anna, and an enemy named Chaos. Did I just get thrown into a story I've yet to write or what?_

"There's more we can go over," Anna continued, "But I don't want to overload you with information right now. Dr. Light and the others might make it easier to explain too." Anna's eyes looked over to the pocket of Chad's jacket, to where he had put the Biometal "Question for you, you know something about that Biometal, don't you?"

Slowly pulling it out of his pocket and holding it in his hand to look over it; completely powerless now, the eyes no longer lighting up, Chad sighed. "This might sound weird but here goes."

"Back home, I try to write my own stories. Mainly just about, well, the kind of stuff that exists here in this universe. Not all of the time, but most of the time; I'll make a character version of myself for the story." Chad's hand kept gently turning the device over, distractedly playing with it. "Something I was planning for was a series where Wily's Robot Master: Quickman, survives to later eras, upgraded into a reploid level of technology. Atoning for his creator's plots and helping the good fight."

"Eventually his soul would be used for a Biometal...and that's where my self insert would come in; a DNA Match to Model Q." Chad stopped flipping the device and stared at the faceplate, at the slits for eyes that no longer had any light in them. "I hear what you're saying about the nature of this universe in relation to my own. But this? This shouldn't exist."

To Chad's surprise, Anna nodded in perfect understanding as she rested her hand in the palm of her right hand. "It's not too weird. It's definitely something we can explain easier back at the palace, but this does already make a connection with my father." Chad raised a quizzical eyebrow, looking to her for further elaboration. "It's not something I can really cover here. But this does tie into some capabilities my father showed and some old legends. We can likely confirm it now as the power of a Game Master."

Another sigh from Chad, there was no way this was going to end up being as simple as he hoped. Although he could easily imagine Lucy teasing him that it's his fault for having a simple brain.

 _...Lucy..._

The Biometal almost slipped out of Chad's shaking hand, his eyes widening. He had been so lost in the confusion and the adrenaline and the hope that this was a dream...that he hadn't had anytime to think too much about back home.

Anna shuffled closer to Chad, worry crossing her face as she saw Chad's free hand shakily go up to his face, holding onto it as if he was worried it was going to break apart. "Chad, what's wrong?"

His voice was almost as shaky as his body "Oh god, my friends and my family. I've just...disappeared."

"Breathe, Chad. It's going to be-" Her gentle toned voice trailed off as her head sharply turned to the side. Chad barely registered her springing to her feet and diving closer to him and summoning up a barrier just before the wall she had looked at exploded inwards.

Whatever chunks of metal came towards them bounced off the barrier, but through the open hole came their newest problem.

Purple armour and a purple helmet that completely covered the head with a T shaped black visor on the front. A large cannon upon the right shoulder with an ammo belt coming from it down to the back of the body. He stood atop a large purple mechanical armour; A ride armour. This armour was equipped with an electromagnetic gun on its shoulder, one arm was a drill and the other a claw.

Metal footsteps clanged across the steel floor as the reploid entered the chamber, followed by five other reploids. The other five were armoured up too but definitely not to the same quality as the leader, three of them in blue and two in green.

"Well, well." The leader spoke with barely contained laughter in his voice "Here we are tracking a teleport signal, and what do we find but Princess Anna Keene of all people."

"Vile."

"Does every Mega Man series exist as its own world or something?" Chad couldn't help but ask out loud, looking at a recurring threat from the Mega Man X games.

Vile looked down at him, only to laugh more "protecting an innocent civilian as well. How very brave." Anna's left hand had slowly begun to move behind her back, preparing to summon her weapon back to her hand. Unfortunately Vile noticed this and the cannon on his shoulder aimed down at the two "ah, ah, ah. Stop right there."

Anna's hand stopped, returning to being in sight as she glared at the mavericks "I've been having a really bad couple of days. What do you want?"

Vile laughed, Chad flinched at the sound. He had forgotten just how much Vile loved to mock anyone and everyone in the games. "Well the plan was to raid whatever idiots teleported here. But I think we have a lot more options with you as a prisoner."

That was not what Anna wanted to hear, captive again. This was getting old.

One of the blue mavericks seemed to look up to the broken ceiling, then turned sharply back to Vile "Commander! Scanners are picking up a Maverick Hunter ship high above, they must've been following the signal too."

A low growl of anger from Vile "Take defensive positions, I will not be cheated out of this windfall!" The mavericks nodded, spreading out across the room while one left to check outside.

* * *

High above this base, hidden within the clouds, a transport ship hovered directly above; the symbol of the maverick hunters emblazoned across the side.

Within; a reploid in standard armour sat in the pilot seat, keeping the airship in place.

In the back, standing before closed cargo doors was a tall highly advanced robot; the predecessor for all reploids. His blue armour similar but more covering than his own predecessor. Mega Man X.

"This is definitely the target location of the teleport signal, X" A young woman's spoke over communications stored in his helmet. "Satellites picked up two humans entering the base earlier. Of the new signals we can confirm one of the maverick arrivals is Vile

"Understood, Alia. I'm not going to get my hopes up; but with any luck we've managed to find Anna. Dr. Light and the others will appreciate the good news."

"You think she managed to escape from Dr. Wily?"

"The Keene sisters have always been resourceful," X answered back, almost amused as he smiled.

A new voice, a more gruff male voice spoke over the comms next, "Zero and Axl are in position. Commence operation."

"Roger, Commander Signas" X formally replied back and watched as the cargo bays began to open up to the sky "Beginning mission."

* * *

Chad looked to the powerless Biometal in his hands, he was useless right now. His hand gripped tighter on it; angered with himself. "Anna, any ideas?"

She turned back to him, smiling. Chad was impressed and already feeling re-assured to see it was a genuinely confident smile. "Just stay with me, he said the maverick hunters are here. We just need to keep ourselves defended."

The green maverick that had left the room to check their surroundings returned. He kept walking towards Vile, "Commander Vile! We've spotted hunters moving into position around the perimeter."

Vile's fist slammed angrily against the ride armour. "Take another with you and just let out a barrage of fire on them! But keep an eye out for-" Vile's words trailed off momentarily as he stared down the maverick "-the kid, with the...copy chip."

Both stared each other down for a moment. Vile's cannon immediately swung down to aim at the maverick and fired. As the green maverick rolled out of the way, the disguise disappeared to reveal a completely different reploid standing there in black armour, some of his spiky auburn hair sticking out of the back of his helmet, an x shaped scar on his face between green eyes.

Axl of the maverick hunters flashed a wide cocky grin at Vile as twin hand guns manifested in his hands, "Really diving into the bargain bin for these mavericks, ain'tcha?

"Die!" Vile yelled out as the ride armour stabbed it's drill forward, Axl jumped back into the air, laughing as he aimed and unleashed a storm of energy shots from his guns, his wings keeping him hovering there.

The armoured claw hand raised up to shield Vile who could only look around the room at his gathering mavericks "What are you waiting for?! Shoot the brat!"

The green maverick that Axl hadn't yet taken care of stepped out behind him, readying a buster arm. Still hovering in mid-air, one of Axl's guns disappeared to be replaced by another with small points sticking out of the top giving it a crossbow like design. That gun was aimed over his shoulder and fired behind him.

A dark energy bolt in the shape of an arrow fired out, it missed the maverick who jumped over it and readied his buster again. Except the dark arrow curved in mid-air and hit into the maverick from behind, piercing through its body.

Vile's ride armour lashed out with the drill again, Axl dropped to dodge it then manifested a large metal shield before him; the Gaea shield.

The other mavericks were quickly moving around the room, trying to get to unguarded angles of Axl, he still smiled carefree "Anytime you're ready, Zero. I left you three."

Sounds of metal footsteps on metal floor rapidly echoed around the room, originating from a walkway above them. One of the three blue mavericks looked up just in time to see a red armoured male and the green flash of his Z-saber igniting up from the handle.

Zero of the Maverick hunters landed behind the cut down maverick, the green energy blade of the Z-saber held out in front of him, long blonde hair in a ponytail sticking out of the back of his helmet.

As the maverick collapsed, Zero's sharp blue eyes looked to the remaining two who froze in place for mere moments...and then opened fire.

No matter how many shots were fired, they were cut down or deflected harmlessly away with ease. Despite the speed at which he was swinging his weapon; all of Zero's movements were completely fluid, chaining from one swing to the next with his body's movement perfectly co-ordinated.

The assault slowed down as one turned to charging up their buster, Zero began to advance towards them; still handling every shot in his way.

The buster finished charging, Zero's eyes narrowed.

"Raikousen!" Zero called out the technique and seemed to fade into the shadows as he dashed forward, a surge of lightning burst past the maverick with the charged buster.

Zero stood on the other side of the maverick now, sword having cleaved right through them, their charge shot haphazardly firing into the last remaining maverick.

Vile was laughing? Zero whirled around to see the electromagnetic cannon locked onto him. Zero's free hand raised up above him "Tenshouha!" His fist slammed down at his feet and a pillar of energy burst up around him.

The burst of energy from the electromagnetic cannon did not pierce through the pillar of energy which just continued upwards to tear an even larger hole through the ceiling.

Once the energy of both attacks faded away, Zero and Axl stood ready as they stared down Vile.

Vile held a hand out to them, clenching it into a fist as he spoke "Seems I can't go anywhere without you breathing down my neck."

"And seems like we can't turn a single corner without running into you," Zero coldly snapped back, his grip still tight on the Z-Saber.

Axl was just as combat ready but yet still playful in his movements; spinning his guns around in his hands "Seriously. How many times are we going to do this dance?" he laughed a little to himself "It's getting boring how often we send you to the scrap heap."

The electromagnetic gun turned to aim at Anna and Chad, the two of them still staying ready behind her barrier. "Then how about I make the stakes more interesting for you?" The drill and claw rose up again; ready to fend off any attempts the maverick hunters may try at regaining the advantage.

The corner of Zero's lips turned up, smirking towards Vile. "All yours, X."

* * *

X had seen the light-show, the familiar sight of Zero's technique: Tenshouha piercing through the ceiling of the base.

A base that was now quickly getting closer as X free-fell towards it, arms at his side. His right hand turned into a buster that just kept charging and charging the further he fell. It was nearing its limiters and yet still he pushed it to charge further.

Scanners in X's optics zoomed in through the expanded hole to analyse the positions of everyone in the chamber. Zero's voice came through over his comms, "all yours, X."

X opened his arms out, shifting his body to fall in a horizontal position. His buster moved down to face the base, his left hand resting upon it to steady it.

"Charge Shot!"

The light poured through the damaged ceiling, Vile barely jumped back in time to avoid the intense charge shot come crashing down.

It tore through the ride armour with ease, scraps of metal breaking apart and flying everywhere, the shockwave throwing Vile backwards.

X fell into the chamber; but still the assault was not over, Zero's Z-saber returned to being held in a clip on his back and a spear manifested in his hand: The D-Glaive. The spear swung forward and X's armoured boots landed on top of the flat side of the energy blade.

Propelled forward by the spear, X launched towards Vile and slammed an energy charged fist into the maverick's stomach; Vile doubled over in pain.

This only gave X the perfect chance to slam his buster arm right up into Vile's face and then fire a normal shot close range.

Vile yelled out partially out of pain but mostly out of rage as he was thrown back into a wall, helmet cracking heavily. X finally landed on the floor and looked at him. "It's over, Vile."

The answer was practically a snarl followed by a voice filled with venom "It's never over, X! Not until I take you down! I won't die until you die first!" A teleportation light surrounded Vile, a fast emergency teleport transporting him away from the base before anyone could stop him.

Axl sighed; rolling his eyes, "well guess we'll be dealing with that again in the near future."

With combat over, X's facial features softened into a warm smile as he looked to his comrades "it won't last, Axl. He can't even find many mavericks these days to help him."

Zero scoffed, shaking his head "and the ones he does find can't even compare to all the fights we've been through. Vile's just a tantrum that's gone on way too long."

X looked over to Anna and Chad, coming over to them as Anna dropped the barrier. X kneeled down and smiled gently at her "It's a relief to see you're okay, Princess. We've been trying to observe the entire planet since Wily took you, in case we found anything."

Anna smiled warmly back, a sense of relief finally washing over her "Sorry to have everyone so worried, thank you." A pout then came to her face "But you really need to drop the formalities, we've been over this: Anna is just fine."

Axl chuckled as he and Zero moved up to join the group "I don't think it's possible for X to stop being so formal, Anna."

Zero shook his head, smiling regardless. His eyes then looked down to Chad "Is he going to be okay?"

Anna turned back to look at the unnaturally silent Chad; his eyes just staring in awe and disbelief at the maverick hunters. "Chad?" Anna slightly waved her hand in front of his vision "Are you still with us?"

"I'm uh-" Chad began, his throat feeling really dry as he struggled to find the words "-I'll get back to you on that."

Exhaustion and stress finally overwhelmed his mind, once again slipping him into unconsciousness. "He's fine," X assured Anna, seeing her concern "Nothing in my systems is picking up any warning signs."

X paused, studying Chad's face "that being said...Anna-"

She interrupted him "-I know. I don't understand it either. I have had nothing but questions running through my mind for a while now."

"Well in that case, let's get you back home," Zero said as he activated a beacon in his systems to notify the airship to pick them up. "Questions can come after you're safe and get some needed rest."

Axl nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you look like a mess."

"Tactful as always, Axl."

* * *

"I HAD THEM!"

Yagami stood, arms crossed, as they watched Dr. Wily slam his hands down on a work bench; shouting so much that he was practically screaming while glaring them down furiously. "You promised me that if I had the princess in captivity, you would deliver a Game Master and I would finally gain a deeper understanding!"

"Perhaps if you put more effort into your machines and security, you'd be able to keep a grip on what you want."

Wily jabbed a finger at the black coat wearing individual, "Don't try and pull that with me! The boy should've been incapable of fighting."

"Perhaps they have a guardian looking out for them."

"Yes, perhaps through an entity in a black coat!" Wily said back accusingly.

Yagami just simply chuckled at that, tilting their head towards the mad scientist, "Regardless of your frustrations, nothing has changed."

Wily lost it again, slamming a fist on the desk and grabbing at what hair he had "You come here after their escape to tell me NOTHING has changed?! I was promised-"

"- **A** Game Master." Yagami cut him off. "Note the emphasis, Doctor."

Wily stopped; raggedly breathing from his outburst as he stepped back "Excuse me?"

"You were promised a Game Master. I never said Chad was that individual. I never said when I'd fulfil that promise."

Wily still felt like he was going to lose it again at this news, but kept his voice down to restrained seething rage "Then why deliver him to me in the first place?"

"For the opening act. Have patience, Albert...Everything will be clear soon enough."

Wily sat back in his chair, staring down Yagami with narrowed eyes, "What kind of game are you playing."

Yagami let out a small laugh and held out their arms to their sides, Wily was sure they were probably smirking behind the darkness masking their face "There's the point. How can one have Game Masters without a game in place?"

Yagami disappeared, leaving Wily to his frustrations.

* * *

Lucy kept pacing back and forth in Chad's room; hoping to see something, anything, that would give her a hint.

She looked to her mobile phone again, still no change apart from the multiple unanswered calls she had sent to Chad's phone and the few calls she had with others.

Didn't stop her from selecting his name once again and waiting for it to ring, only for it to still go to voice mail "Chad," her voice cracked, she had lost count of how many times she had barely kept back the tears coming to her eyes every time the phone wasn't answered "This isn't funny."

Her free hand shakily ran through her hair, holding onto her head "please," she begged of him, "I just need to know where you are. If something's wrong, please talk to me." Her voice broke into a sob, more desperate "Please."

Lucy slowly sat down on the floor, the phone slipping out of her hand. No answer from Chad, Blue was still away from any and all communication; so no help there, Richard and everyone else hadn't seen or heard from Chad.

Glancing at the phone on the floor to see the time, mostly as an excuse to hope for some kind of message, she saw it was now midnight.

All day, gone all day. No form of contact, no returning home.

Just...gone.

Summer was calling authorities and checking with people as well, but Lucy had hoped she herself would have heard something from someone...Anyone.

Her legs pulled up to her chest, arms wrapping around them as she buried her head into them "You promised me," she began to cry freely "Not you too."

* * *

 **Author Notes** :

Note 1: In the English version of Megaman ZX, the system is referred to as the "Meta-Encapsulated Granule Awareness" system. M.E.G.A. And the command to activate it is "Megamerge". I'm not going to lie. I much prefer the way it is in Japan so that's why I go for the R.O.C.K system and "Rock On".

Note 2: I could quite happily go the rest of my life without seeing another disappearing block. Happy we're getting Megaman 11 but hoo boy I'm not looking forward to the trauma again.


	4. Chapter3: Starting Life in Another World

**Chapter 3: Starting Life in Another World.**

Chad's eyelids began to flicker, followed by him loudly groaning out of frustrated tiredness again as he slowly woke up. His body felt heavy, the kind of feeling one gets when they get more sleep than usual. "For an insomniac, I'm spending a lot of time unconscious lately," he mumbled to himself.

Eventually as his body adjusted more to being active again, his eyes slowly opened to stare up at an unfamiliar ceiling. He sighed in resignation. "So much for the whole dream thing."

Still keeping to small movements, his head slightly tilted as his eyes scanned the room. A simple room; plain walls, a few computer consoles and monitors nearby, his jacket hanging over a chair, a few beds including the one he lay in. There was some other kind of computers nearby his bed, there was what looked like a switched off heart monitor close by.

It definitely wasn't a full hospital, it was more like some kind of medical bay. Chad slowly sat up; wincing at the sluggish feeling in his arms. At least other than his jacket he was still dressed. "Ugh, how long did I sleep?"

No one arrived to answer him, they must not have expected him to wake up just yet. He weighed his options; On the one hand he should really stay where he was and wait for someone to come back.

On the other hand this was a perfect opportunity for exploration and familiarising himself with this new environment. _I should probably stay put though. Might make them worry if I go walking about, I'm sure I can keep myself distracted._ He glanced around the room again; looking for something to take an interest in. _I wonder if everyone is okay? I just disappeared on them._

Chad sighed and got to his feet, that settled it. No way was he staying here to be left to his thoughts. He left the room; leaving behind his jacket for now.

The shift in architecture was extremely noticeable the moment he left the room. Anna had mentioned something about a palace and he was starting to get the idea. Smooth marble floors, hallways with high ceilings and arches, walls occasionally bearing patterns and emblems. Everything truly felt like some kind of royal palace in design to Chad. The lights on the ceiling and some attached to the walls were fairly modern, maybe slightly more futuristic in design then Chad was expecting though.

The overall colour scheme seemed to mainly revolve around darker colours, shades of black and grey and silver. Any other colours tended to be more muted. The lighting still seemed to bring life and brightness to his surroundings.

Following the path through a few corridors; Chad came to a hallway with large window panels attached. He stopped as he looked outside "That...can't be right?"

He'd estimate he was somewhere around thirty stories high; that generally should've meant a beautiful view of a landscape but...there was nothing.

The outside of the palace was there, sure. A courtyard, gardens, a grand set of stairs leading down to a road to a gate and wall surrounding the building. But then it just stopped there.

Nothing but the sky below the sudden drop, as though there was nothing but this palace floating in the sky.

Following the hallway some more, he discovered some elevators. Curiosity had overtaken him now, he had to see close up. Chad called it, stepped in and took it down to the ground floor. The floors went up to forty-eight and there was a further three basement levels.

The ground floor lobby was just as fanciful as everything else he had seen so far. A second level seen above via walkways, small statues of warriors wielding weapons placed in the room, ornate metalwork decorating the walkways above.

There was a desk set aside for some kind of reception to welcome guests, seats and small tables nearby. The lobby would be a good first impression to anyone entering the palace on business.

So where was everyone?

No guards, no servants of any kind. Chad had not seen a single person so far in all of his explorations up to this point, albeit how minimal it had been. He had at least expected the lobby to have people in.

Outside was just as quiet, the entrance to the palace was accompanied by two extremely tall statues of robed women. The steps led down to a road that split in three directions; each to a gate at the wall surrounding this palace.

Where the road split was a large circular area, the centre had some kind of monument embedded into the ground. Cracked and damaged, the name upon it obscured, but definitely in honour of some kind of royalty.

As for the gates; there really was nothing. The road just stopped at the gates and dropped off into nothing but sky all around them. As hard as Chad looked he could see no sign of any other land.

Chad looked back to the palace. It was not what he had expected. A skyscraper forty-eight stories tall, the main building ending around the thirty-third floor where the structure split into four towers for the remaining higher floors; connected together near the top of them by walkways coming together in the shape of an X.

It reminded him design wise of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, he had expected some kind of fantasy world style palace. Not a modern day skyscraper.

His feet could barely move right now, just frozen on the spot as he looked up at the towering sight; half in awe, half overwhelming confusion. "Oh, what have you gotten yourself into?"

Eventually he made his way back inside to continue his explorations, and hopefully find someone soon.

* * *

"I know this was my idea, but I'm feeling uncomfortable about this."

A whole day had passed since Anna's return. After crashing asleep the night of her return; she had got herself cleaned up and checked in with her friends. Even taken a teleport to Neo Arcadia to put her sister's worries at ease...also to make sure said sister finally got some sleep.

Chad hadn't woken up that entire day. Now the day after that; Anna stood in the computer room attached to the Palace's Vault, her clothing a simple long sleeved shirt and long skirt to relax in right now. The top her preferred colour of a sky blue.

The issue bringing her discomfort was that Chad's phone, removed from his jacket, was connected up to the computer right now; the files being accessed by the main system.

Zelda stood besides her; placing a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. Her and Link had come to the palace to truly make sure Anna was okay. Anna knew it was out of guilt of her capture, no matter how much she reassured them it wasn't their fault. "I know it's not very respectful of his privacy. But right now we can't afford complete immediate trust of a stranger."

Anna sighed, nodding in hesitant agreement as she watched Dr. Light accessing files stored on it. "I know. I have concerns and I want to make sure we're not being lured into some kind of trick. That's why I suggested it...I just wish we didn't have to."

Rock looked over to his sister Roll "Nothing came up when you was examining him? Nothing that brought attention?"

Roll. who had taken to training in various medical fields, shook her head. "The similarities in his appearance do extend further into genetics and blood, but it seems to be only minimally. I don't think there's any actual connection, perhaps alternate versions extend to that universe too. But I can't give any definitive answer."

Link looked over to Anna, equally as concerned as Zelda "You don't have to hide it, Anna. We all know this isn't just about privacy. Are you okay?"

Anna's bottom lip trembled for a moment, Zelda's arm moved over her shoulders to hold her closer; Anna accepted the comfort and then nodded a little. "I don't know...I don't know what outcome I want this to be."

"I would theorise that this is a situation like Link and I," Zelda said, looking up to the screen "But this is not enough time to have passed."

Dr. Light was currently accessing messages, various texts between Chad and others displayed. Nothing was catching Anna's attention as important. Most texts with a girl called Lucy were just quick requests to pick things up or asking if each other needed anything, the occasional teasing banter in-between.

Messages with a Blue and a Richard were also small updates, mainly mentioning that they'd talk more in-depth online later. Nothing to take note of with his mother or his cousin or anyone else. Completely ordinary life.

Photos gave them little else to go on either. Just a small handful pictures of him with friends "Well it truly does seem like there's no agenda going on here," Dr. Light finally spoke up, turning to look at Blues. "Son, tell us again...you saw nothing of concern when you attempted to recruit him?"

Blues thought back to the moment he was sure the boy's mother had looked in his direction. He shook his head "There's definitely some kind of agenda out there with those who captured him. However I'm willing to bet he has no involvement. We can trust him."

Anna looked over to Blues; smiling in relief at his judgement, "From what I saw as we escaped, I believe the same." She looked up to the pictures as Dr. Light closed them back down and disconnected the phone "I just wish we had an explanation for the likeness."

"What about the Biometal?" Rock asked her, "Did you tell Elie about it?"

"Sis would like the opportunity to examine it. But we both agreed we should ask him for permission first."

"Speaking of him" Dr. Light interrupted as he looked at live footage on the monitor showing an empty bed "He's up and about."

Flicking through live feeds, he found footage of Chad walking through a royal garden like area of the palace. Anna sighed softly "I'll go get him. Return his phone to his jacket and then we'll meet in the living areas. I'd like to do this somewhere more comfortable in a relaxed atmosphere."

* * *

Care had truly been put into this garden. The layout and the presentation was beautiful. Everything placed so that that the colours of the flowers flowed together beautifully.

But even so; one area stood out the most. The central area featured a gazebo where one could sit and look all around the garden. Surrounding this as well as in one large section was vivid blue flowers.

Chad stood on the platform of the gazebo, hands resting on the wooden railings as he looked over the gathering of these blue flowers.

"They're called Syllebossoms."

Chad almost jumped at the sudden voice, turning to see Anna walking up. She smiled and looked to the flowers "Some of the few records in this palace call them 'The Flower of Zeal.' They seem to share traits from multiple types of flowers including lavender, gentiana and iris flowers."

Chad glanced over at her; puzzled, "You make it sound like you're learning about this place as well?"

"The palace has been around a long time. My family came into possession of it but it's not ours."

"So you're a home invader?" Chad lightly teased.

"I wouldn't put it like that, but I guess it's not inaccurate." Anna paused then turned to face him more directly "It's a relief to see you up and about. You didn't wake up at all yesterday."

Chad's eyes widened a bit in surprise as he also turned to face her. "A whole day? Well I guess I always did need to catch up on sleep. Sorry for collapsing and being a problem."

"It's fine. It was easy for X to carry you."

Chad began to nervously rub the back of his head "um, sorry for just wandering about. No one was around and I kinda got curious."

Anna reassuringly waved a hand and smiled further "You don't need to apologise. It's natural you'd explore, you must have a lot of confusion and questions."

"But that being said-" Anna took a few steps past him and looked back "-I'd like to introduce you to the others and we can start filling in the blanks."

"Lead the way."

* * *

Chad was taken back to the floor he had first woken up on. This time however he was led down different hallways; soon finding himself surprised once again by a shift in architecture.

The areas he had came to felt more like a house or large apartment then a palace. A living area that while still more luxury than Chad was used to, was far more homey than a palace's living areas would normally be.

Sitting at a nice but simple dining table, Chad found himself just staring in silent awe at the gathered heroes sitting down as well.

The silence was beginning to get uncomfortable. It felt to Chad like even they were uncomfortable a little with this meeting. He was thankful when Blues Light spoke up first "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For helping Anna."

"I'd say I was more of a beneficial distraction than anything"

"Learn to accept compliments and gratitude."

Chad sighed heavily, "Alright." He paused again to look over the gathered heroes. Seeing them real and in front of his own eyes was going to take a lot of adjusting. Didn't help when seeing people like Zelda or Samus on a screen hadn't prepared him for how beautiful they was going to look for real. Respectful as he was trying to be, it was impossible to not acknowledge that fact.

Dr. Light followed his son's lead and spoke up next "So I suppose the first place to start would be to ask if you're aware of the identities of everyone gathered here."

Chad motioned to each one in turn as he spoke "Dr. Light, Roll, Megaman, Zelda, Link, Samus...and of course I've already met Anna and Protoman."

"That does make things easier at least." Dr. Light paused to let out a heavy sigh, his eyes sorrowful as he looked to Chad; speaking apologetically. "The second point I feel is more crucial to get to now. I regret to tell you that we have no way to breach the boundaries between universes to return you home. We're not even sure how your abductors managed it."

Silence again as Chad looked down a little, distractedly studying the wood of the table as his mind went over this revelation repeatedly until finally: "I...kinda figured. But I don't think it's fully sunk in yet."

"You have our word that no matter what your choices are at the end of this conversation, you will be looked after."

"Well in that case. Hit me with the exposition Doc.'"

Dr. Light pressed buttons upon a small computer terminal sitting on the table in front of him. A holographic projection materialised of two middle-aged individuals. A man with short brown hair, swept to the right and a woman with long brown hair, cascading all the way down to her waist. The woman's clothes were a more royal fashion while the man's seemed to be more casual like Chad's own. Both were clearly more stream-lined and designed for combat despite their different themes.

"This-" Dr. Light motioned to the man "-is Kevin Keene, the Game Master that chose the title Captain N to represent himself."

It took so much willpower for Chad to restrain his instinctual need to throw a sarcastic comment about the name.

Dr. Light next motioned to the woman "and this is Queen Lana Lansfeld. Anna has told you about their relation to her, as well as when Kevin was selected."

"Looking at the age range of people here, I guess a lot of you hadn't even been through most of your battles when Kevin had arrived."

"It surprised him too" Samus spoke up, she had been leaning back; relaxed in her chair for most of the meeting. "I was still just starting in the Galactic Federation when he showed up. Not the bounty hunter he was expecting to come across."

"So," Chad's chin rested on top of his hand, the arm propped up by its elbow on the table, leaning forward a little. "What exactly is required of this 'Game Master' role."

"Whatever speaks through the Power Glove is a little vague on the specifics" Dr. Light admitted. "Based on what we were told this time, and Kevin's summoning...We believe the Game Master is summoned as a type of balance. Another champion to help prevent major calamities from occurring."

Chad glanced over to Link and Zelda, using them as his example "So it's likely not a calling for one specific threat like with Ganon. But just an in-general support to the worlds."

"That's the theory anyway," Anna answered. "It could just be that we're not seeing the greater scope of what's going on. As long as we keep helping out, we can learn more and make sure things fall into place."

 _Maybe it works in a similar principle to the Counter Guardians in some of the stuff made by Type Moon_ , Chad began to think to himself. _A crisis rises so a protector of balance is summoned to tip the scales...but if that's the case._

"Why people from my world? Why call ordinary people from a different universe here?"

"Everything here exists in your universe as stories," Rock spoke up "This gives the Game Master the advantage of awareness."

"But-" Blues interrupted his brother "-We should stress that you need to be careful of how you use that knowledge. Trying to change events you know about could lead to more severe consequences. It's all about finding a balance."

Chad nodded slowly in agreement. He could understand that. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to help himself if he came across certain stuff he'd like to make better. But it made perfect sense to him as a warning. He could try and save someone from an unfortunate fate only for it to create a domino effect leading to more consequences.

Dr. Light nodded in agreement with his children's comments and turned back to Chad. "The final possibility is if you have the same power as Kevin. To tap into reality itself."

Chad's head slipped off his hand; barely stopping it from dropping to the table in shock. "I...what?!"

"Old legends speak of a power" Zelda decided to carry on the conversation, this kind of talk was her world's expertise after all. "A radiant light known as The Azure. Some described it as the light of the stars itself. It might not be inaccurate. This power embodies reality itself; time and space, creation and destruction."

"The true Azure seems to be unreachable," Link carried on. "But Kevin was able to tap into fragments of this power. The ability to turn thoughts into power, to make small alterations in the fabric of reality itself."

Chad thought back to his conversation with Anna about the Biometal, about how it didn't confuse her that it wasn't supposed to exist. "So you think that's the unique power offered to a Game Master."

"Legends say that the guardian of the Azure lent use of it to warriors in a time of chaos." Zelda showed the back of her right hand, where the symbol of her piece of the triforce began to form; faintly glowing with a golden light "perhaps the Game Master isn't so different from Link and I. If we can see if you have gained this power too, then we'll know the Game Masters are chosen to safeguard the Azure and use it to bring stability to further times of chaos."

Chad sat back in his chair; rubbing the temples of his head with his fingers. It made sense as an explanation but it also concerned him. They clearly knew very little about this power. He'd seen enough fiction to know this meant they'd likely discover more throughout further battles to come. But that didn't necessarily mean the revelations would be good ones.

"We know this is a lot to take in, and that it leaves future events unclear," Anna apologised.

"No, it's fine. I asked for exposition. I'm just trying to think of parallels to stuff I know about, see if it helps me get a better understanding."

They gave him some time to digest it, waiting in patient silence for him to mull it all over in his head. Eventually Chad looked back to them, "I want to help."

Anna's head tilted a little as she stared in surprise, she had not been expecting that answer. "You understand it's going to be dangerous? You said about how you used to imagine inserting yourself into these situations, so I want to make sure you understand how real this is."

Chad nodded again. "I won't lie to you. There's a part of my mind that is interested at getting to experience this. I can't deny that. But it's like Blues accurately predicted." He smiled and shrugged a little "I just want to do what I can to help."

Anna sighed, eyes half-closing as she looked at him. "Don't tell me. You're the type that goes with the flow."

Chad didn't answer but the aversion of his eyes and shift in his breathing was enough of a give-away. She sighed again, "are you truly sure though...If you don't want to fight, no one will force you. We understand it's hard enough to be losing days of your life."

"I'm not losing days."

Anna blinked, that answer from Chad was so instant.

"Every day I spend here is a day I don't experience back home. You're right on that. But to sit around and do nothing, that would truly be losing days." Chad nervously fidgeted with his fingers a little. "I guess what I'm trying to say is. I'm not home... but I'm alive here. So for every day not spent at home, it would be a waste to not spend that day here living."

She took her time to look at him, there was no hesitation in his words. He was definitely concerned but he has determined nevertheless. She smiled gratefully "Well. Let's get you some food and then let's get started."

* * *

Chad had never returned home for the rest of that night, or the day that followed. Lucy was once again just sitting on the floor of Chad's room, bags under her eyes from the extreme minimal amount of sleep she had gotten.

Summer was downstairs talking to some close friend of hers, a private detective. The blonde haired Japanese woman had spoken to Lucy for a little bit but she could not even recall what was said in the conversation. Her mind was too much of a haze.

She had tried to calm herself, tried to think of positive possibilities for his disappearance. But every single time her thoughts would shift tracks and go to every worst case scenario she could think of. Abduction, murder, getting caught in a fatal accident. It was still horrible to think of but the best case scenario would be some kind of illness effecting his mind

Well...there was one other possible she kept forcefully managing to avoid, shutting it out every time it began to creep up. That scenario wasn't an option. _He promised._

"...Lucy."

It wasn't the voice she had hoped to hear, but it was a welcome familiar voice. Lucy weakly looked up to the doorway. A young man stood there a year or two older than her. His brown hair was short with a slightly longer fringe and looked a little messy right now. His brown eyes were looking down at Lucy kindly but with a lot of worried care.

He had come here immediately from his work in an elderly care home, not even changing out of his uniform. Her and Chad's friend: Richard Chandos.

"...Richard."

He breathed out and came over to Lucy, gently helping her to her feet "Come on, let's get you out of this."

Lucy moved herself a little, stepping back to sit down on the bed; protesting "n-no."

Richard looked at her in the eyes, his eyes were almost as tired as hers. He spoke a little more sternly "Lucy, you can't do this to yourself. It's not healthy sitting here in his room like this."

She held onto the bed covers tightly, keeping herself sitting down on the bed "Richard... please."

Richard sighed, relenting for the moment as he sat besides her "...alright. But in exchange you will stay out of this room for a while later, okay?"

She weakly nodded, he supposed he'd have to just accept that as an answer for now. Richard placed an arm around her comfortingly and just gave her time to adjust to another presence here for the moment.

"Have you-" Richard looked at her as she spoke up, her voice so cracked and drained "-heard anything?"

"...So far still no word," Richard gently replied to her, rubbing her shoulder a little "But I'm holding out hope for Blue to know something."

"If he ever contacts us."

"Hey, come on-" Richard tried to sooth her worries, "-We're not that much into the new year. If we don't hear from him in another couple of days...well he may live a bit further but he's not that far, I'll go pester him."

For the first time in the past couple of days, Lucy's lips formed a smile again; even for a brief moment "...How are you doing?"

"Me?" Richard shook his head. "Don't worry about me. I won't deny I'm worried sick, but-" He put on a smile as he tried to lighten the mood some more "-you think I'll allow anything to happen to Chad before I knock that smirk off my rival's face?"

It worked, Lucy smiled again as she felt a sense of amusement begin to well up inside her "your track record...isn't great" she stuttered out.

"Merely practice." He still kept his voice light and gentle but his facial expression did revert back to a more serious one "That friend of Summer's. Detective Kuremi spoke a bit to me before I came up here. If Chad's mother trusts her then she'll find something."

Lucy hesitated to answer, body trembling again as she held her hands together in her lap "I'm worried what we'll find."

Richard held his long-time friend closer again "Don't let your mind wander like that. Whatever scenarios you're thinking aren't an option. Chad's paranoid so we know no one would sneak up on him. You both have lived in this village a long time. He does know how to take care of himself."

He lowered his head a little so she could see his eyes and smile "Trust me, he'll turn back up and even if there's a good reason we'll still slap some sense into him."

"...if you say so"

"I do. I mean you know Chad the best out of all of us. You know better than us that he'd never put his life in dan-" Richard trailed off at the sudden sharp in-take of breath from Lucy.

He looked at her, her eyes kept attempting to look up to his but each time immediately darted away; frantically trying to avoid looking as she started to breath heavier as the tears flowed again.

Richard stared at her, realisation hitting at the source of her panic "...oh."

He pulled her into his arms, hugging her and holding her close. She cried against him, holding on tight. The scenario she was trying not to think about now too much in the forefront of her thoughts. "H-He promised. We promised each other we'd never-"

Richard held her tighter, it was bad enough just the implication about Chad, but now in her break down she was implying herself as well. He was worried about Chad but he had come here with the intention of keeping a calm face to support Lucy. That was quickly breaking as he choked back tears "Lucy...whatever you two went through, he wouldn't break this promise."

"I know!" She desperately cried back, burying her head further into his shirt "But I can't stop thinking about it. I can't lose him. I can't lose anyone else!"

"You won't. My promise to you is that Chad is fine, I'll make certain of it. I promise You'll be okay too."

Lucy just kept tearfully thanking him until in her sadness; tiredness took over and she fell asleep. Richard waited until he was sure she was deep asleep and gently took her to her room and put her into her bed.

By the time he came downstairs, Summer was the only one there now. She looked at him concerned "What happened?"

Richard rubbed his hand over his face, then gently slapping the side of his face to recompose himself. "I just heard some things I wasn't expecting to hear."

"I'm sorry." Summer's tone was deeply apologetic and serious, she knew what he was talking about then.

Richard breathed out and looked to her, distracting himself "So what did your detective friend say?"

"She's going to look into it as well. Kyoko Kuremi is an old friend and an even closer family friend to the Valentines." Summer gently smiled at Richard "I trust her completely with helping on this."

Richard nodded, a little relieved. He trusted Chad's mother and so therefore trusted anyone she'd put her faith in. "Summer, after what Lucy was just like...Be honest with me. Mother's intuition or whatever you want to call it. Do you think he's okay?"

There was something about her smile that was truly re-assuring. It was so honest and true, not a single bit of doubt in her face could be seen "As cheesy as it sounds, Richard. I know in my heart that everything will work out."

Richard let out a sigh of relief, that was good enough for him for now...but that being said "When Lucy wakes up, tell her I'll be back soon. There's something I want to check up on. I'd also if possible like to take her out of the house for a bit some day soon, give her some time."

Summer nodded in agreement "That would definitely be good for her. You know you're always welcome here."

Richard smiled back at her "If there's anything you need, you know to call me."

As Richard left and walked down the street, he dialled Chad's number again. Same result as every other time. No answer. Same from Blue again. He sighed "alright, Blue... I know you like your holiday privacy but fuck it." He made his way to the train station, not to return home but to head off further away. He needed to make an un-announced visit on a friend.

* * *

There were two training rooms to this palace. The standard that Chad had been shown first was simply a large room with various weapons kept secured in storage. Chad had expected to be taught some basic fighting there to see what he was capable of.

But that was far more simpler than what Anna and the others had in mind. Chad was led to their preferred training room. A large room with computer systems and some kind of large metal door against the wall.

Monitors attached to the computer systems seemed to be for observing. Dr. Light took his seat at the computers and smiled. "This is something I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of. We have a simulation room for training purposes."

Chad looked at the closed door "Always found these things cool. Pretty impressive technology."

"They're also part magic. What that doorway leads to is a pocket dimension that we can adjust through the systems of this palace."

"Simulation room mixed with the Room of Spirit and Time. That is impressive" Chad said more to himself.

Anna stepped up to the door and turned to Chad "What we'd like to do is just get a rough idea of capabilities before we commit to a more clear training system. You're in no danger here, the system generates its own specific barriers to prevent physical harm."

Before coming to this room; Chad had questioned on how exactly to protect himself when eventually joining them on battles. Anna had explained that being here in this universe; he'd discover exactly what her father had. Some kind of protective aura of energy naturally generated by the user.

He couldn't get much more details then that because Anna was confused on how to explain something to him that was just accepted as a basic known fact of the universe.

Chad was beginning to wonder if it was going to get to a point that he'd just have to start seriously labelling certain elements of this universe as 'anime physics' and just move on.

The door opened to nothing but a white light, Chad stepped in.

The moment he crossed the threshold of the doorway he found himself now in a large open grassland. The simulation was vivid, there was nothing to indicate this was an artificially created landscape.

Chad walked calmly around and threw a few punches and kicks around him, just to test out movement. Nothing was hindering his movements at all, everything here felt just like it would in reality.

Dr. Light's voice echoed around the landscape, coming through a communication device in the computer system "How is everything feeling?"

Chad stretched his arms and legs, smiling as he called up to the sky "Pretty good. Maybe it's the much needed sleep. So what next?"

"We do want to help you train in multiple forms of combat but what would your preferred focus be?"

"Oh definitely an one-handed sword. I'm all about it."

Materialising before him from fragments of data was a simple one-handed long sword. Chad reached out with his left hand and held onto it, smiling. Now this was more like it.

Model Q was interesting...and confusing. But this was more his preferred style.

Chad gave it a few practice swings. He wasn't sure if it was an effect of the simulation or not but it didn't feel as heavy as he had expected it to feel. Sure, it wasn't light but he didn't feel weighed down by it either.

"Alright, Chad. We're going to just start off slow here" Anna told him. As she said this, Chad watched more data particles began to form into a shape on the ground.

Chad looked at the small blue creature in the rain droplet like shape. It's large round eyes and its goofy, toothless smile. The slime stared back up at him.

Chad sighed and called up to the sky "Come on guys, I know I'm new at this. But a slime? Really? That's so basic."

* * *

Blues looked to his father and smiled "Put the difficulty up."

Dr. Light moved a slider on the computer system up to a much higher position.

Anna sighed as she looked over to him "Blues, come on."

"Just making sure he doesn't get too cocky."

Samus couldn't help but smirk "You've got to admit, Anna. It's going to be amusing."

* * *

"Alright let's just clear this level and move onto the next stage" Chad said to himself and ran at the slime, swinging the blade down.

That facial expression never changing; the slime slipped forward, at the last possible second, to the right of his swing and jumped up towards Chad. "The fu-" The sentence never finished as the slime slammed into Chad and sent him rolling across the ground.

In his confusion, Chad couldn't be sure but he could've sworn he heard a snicker. "Okay...so that's how it's going to be." Standing back up and retrieving his sword, Chad looked to his opponent.

No matter what angle he tried, no matter how fast he tried to move. The slime playfully moved out of the way or in-between of each slash. Time and time again Chad would be knocked to the ground by it, getting back up to try again.

"I will not be beaten by a goddamn slime!"

He was beaten by a slime.

Knocked out of the simulation back into the chamber with the others, he just lay there for a moment mumbling frustrated swearing.

Blues leaned over him, the sunglasses masked his eyes but not the smirk "so what have we learned?"

"That Protoman is a dick!"

Link helped Chad up and smiled at him "Don't let it get to you. He just wanted to not let you get too overconfident."

"Could you not have just said something?"

Zelda came up to join Link and smiled "Here, instead of simulated threats, allow Link and I to start you off on proper sword handling."

Chad couldn't deny it; the idea of being trained in sword fighting by Zelda and Link sounded amazing "I'd love that. Thanks."

"Well I suppose it will be easier for him then your own training" Samus pointed out dryly.

Link noticeably shivered "Impa's...very serious at training."

This time as Chad went through the doorway, the two heroes of Hyrule joined him.

The training wasn't specifically combat based. It started off with them instructing him on stances to take, helping him properly ground himself and hold the weapon correctly.

When they did clash, it was only small trade-offs to help Chad slowly get a better grip on his sword; adjust him to the feeling of it clashing against another.

As the day passed and the training continued; Chad was currently being tasked by Link and Zelda to work on his guarding. Rock looked to the others as they watched, "So what do you think?"

Samus watched Chad quickly move his blade; missing the timing and getting knocked back by a stab from Zelda's rapier, the energy barrier of the simulation knocking him away instead of it stabbing into him. "He's still got a long way to go, but it's no different to how we all started. There's a willingness to learn and an eagerness to help there."

Anna nodded in agreement "I remember all the training Elie and I done. It took me so long to catch up to her."

Roll seemed to find Anna's recollection amusing, smiling lightly at her. "I seem to remember you showing up to the medical bay one too many times, overexerting yourself."

"Guilty."

Rock went up to his father at the computer systems "Have we detected any kind of emerging powers during this training, father?"

Dr. Light shook his head. "Nothing for certain, there are small readings of energy manipulation but I can't detect anything we can help unlock or train just yet. I think the priority is to continue on normal combat for now."

"I agree," Blues came up to the computer. "But I think that's enough for today." He activated the communicator device "Link, Zelda. That's enough for now, you can help peel him off the floor."

When they emerged, Chad was smiling despite the amount of times he had been thrown around. His weapon was gone now that he had left the simulation. "I can't believe that's you taking it easy on me. You're amazing fighters."

"You sound surprised" Zelda said back, smiling as she let her rapier disappear into particles of light.

"Well I mean. I've always known you could fight, Zelda; but it was usually just bows and arrows they showed us back home. This swordplay is amazing."

Link's sword returned to its sheath and his shield to its place on his back, he put a hand on Chad's shoulder, the look in his face was genuine confident support. "Give it time and you'll be just as capable."

"It really is an honour, I mean it."

Link sighed a little, but the smile remained "Honestly don't worry about being so formal here. We're all close friends here and you're part of this group now. It's refreshing to train with someone who can be more casual with us compared to the other knights back home."

Zelda laughed lightly, "Link's right. Don't think of people here as royalty or heroes or famous bounty hunters. We're happy to have these bonds of friendship-" She trailed off with her mouth open, pausing from whatever she was about to say; only to then finish up with, "Chad."

"Did you almost forget my name? I'm hurt," Chad spoke in mock jest.

"No it's not that, sorry. I got...distracted." Zelda's eyes glanced over to Anna's. A sorrowful expression had passed over her face for a moment but she nodded understandingly at Zelda.

It was a relief to both of them that Samus interrupted the conversation "Well, I'll be heading off to track down some more targets tomorrow. So I think it's about time for dinner while we're all here."

"OH!" All turned to look at Chad's sudden outburst as he slapped his fist into the palm of his other hand "I completely forget. What is the deal with this palace anyway?"

Dr. Light looked up quizzically at Chad's question "the deal?"

He held his arms out as if motioning to the entirety of the palace outside of this room. "I mean, there's nothing but sky out there. And where are all the people?"

"This palace is the entirety of the world," Anna replied matter-of-factly "That sky is just a small atmospheric shell around this palace."

"And the people?"

"Friends and allies from across the worlds come and go, some will stay for a while but not many live here fully."

Chad tilted his head a little, crossing his arms. "that's it? I mean...this is a palace. Are there no guards or servants or...anyone?" Anna shook her head. "So how do you maintain this place?"

"The palace has some kind of anomaly in time around it. It keeps the palace in a type of stasis."

 _How convenient_ , flashed through Chad's mind. He accepted it though, for now anyway. Just another addition to the list of mysteries this universe was bringing him.

The group left the simulation chamber, heading off back to the living area to prepare dinner.

* * *

It was now night. It had taken a fair bit of the day to rely on trains to get him to his destination; but Richard was now where he wanted to be.

He was mostly relieved right now that his girlfriend Ariel was understanding after he called her to say he likely wouldn't see her tonight. Travelling up here took a lot of time and travelling back was going to be just as annoying. Probably wouldn't even get all the way back for tonight either.

He walked down the path, heading in the direction of one house in particular. Their friend Blue Hikrai would always cut connections for a bit over Christmas. Just spend time around family.

That wasn't a problem, but right now...with what was going on. Lucy needed support. Going directly to Blue instead of waiting was the best decision.

At least...that was the plan.

Richard's speed began to slow, eventually stopping as he looked at the house in question. A for sale sign in the garden. Curtains missing from the windows showing a completely empty house; devoid of people and furniture.

"Blue boy!" Richard called out once he got to the gate, Blue's unusual name had always been a habit for Richard to put emphasis on.

No answer.

"Hikrai, you better goddamn be in that house playing a prank!"

Still no answer.

Richard walked up the path and knocked loudly on the door. No answer. Rang the doorbell. No answer. Peered through the windows. No answer. Debated smashing a window open. Wisely chose not to.

"If I have to start loudly singing Jingle Jangle Jingle until you open the door, I will" Once again no answer.

Never let it be said Richard doesn't deliver on threats or promises as he began to loudly sing out "Oh I've got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle! As I go riding merrily along. And they sing-"

"STOP SINGING!"

Richard turned to look at the neighbour's house at a pretty angry man standing outside of his door. "Sorry, listen do you know where the family living here went?"

"The Hikrai's? They moved a couple of weeks ago."

"...they what?"

"Yeah, they won something and moved out."

Richard glanced back at the house confused. Blue wouldn't move without letting them know first, surely. Was he annoyed at them? No everyone's last conversation with him was completely normal and friendly.

Richard looked back to the neighbour who was about to go back inside "Did they say where they was going?"

"Nope."

"What about their son? Do you know anything about him."

"...They don't have a son?"

"Uhh, yeah they do."

The man sighed wearily as he stepped back onto his porch "Kid. I've lived here the entire time next to the Hikrai's. They have no children."

"I have a friend who's been to this house to see him, she can absolutely verify that they have a son."

The man was tired of arguing with a stranger at this point and just went back inside, closing the door.

Richard turned back to the house "The actual fuck?"

Richard spent more time exploring the outside of the house, seeing if he could find a way in. There was none and there was definitely nothing to give him any kind of clues.

He sighed and left the house, walking back towards the station. For now there was nothing he could really do here. He'd go back and try and contact again, maybe see if he could find anything else.

His hand went to his chin, lost in thought as he retraced his footsteps. Richard hadn't been to Blue's house but Lucy had, she didn't seem to have a high opinion of his parents. Blue had told them his family time around christmas was more about his grandmother than anything else.

But for the neighbour to not even be aware of his existence? No. Lucy had been here, she had said nothing was suspicious. The parents definitely hadn't done anything shady like hide Blue's existence.

But yet, Richard didn't get the sense the guy was lying either. A couple of weeks, that would've been just at the time Blue went on his usual break for the holidays. Did something happen after he went offline?

Richard stopped in his tracks. _Chad disappears. Blue's seemingly gone._ He shook his head, not stopping the laugh. _Don't be so ridiculous, there's no conspiracy theory here._

But yet, there it was in the back of his mind. Chad truly had just disappeared out of nowhere. Blue was gone to the point that his family had just up and moved and a neighbour seemed convinced that he didn't even exist.

Richard shakily willed his legs to keep moving. He was tired and rattled, whatever was going on was explainable, he just needed sleep and to look at this with a clear head. Yeah, that was it.

* * *

Chad had to admit it. It was a really nice gathering for that dinner. He had felt uncomfortable at including himself in a group like this but they had been so open and kind.

He was lying on a bed in a spare bedroom given to him; much like the rest of the living area it felt more homely than a palace. Still far more luxury than Chad felt he'd ever experience in normal life but yet still a better sense of familiarity here. The food from the dinner had been really good and the company had been pleasant. He mostly just enjoyed listening to their conversations but there had still been plenty of moments they had involved him as well.

It was really starting to sink in now that he was spending time with people that had been fictional characters in his world. It was overwhelming if he was being honest.

If he had to be truly honest with himself though...Anna was the most overwhelming part of it all.

The more he spoke to her, the more he felt a rising feeling of guilt. The Anna he knew, the Anna she so resembled. She was one of his oldest OCs and he honestly felt he had never done justice to her writing. Being negative about writing was hard enough as it was, but to come across the exact likeness of a character you felt you had failed multiple times.

Chad frowned and shook his head, trying not to dwell on it. The last thing he needed was to continue his usual habits of letting his mind struggle to sleep again. He shifted his body slightly to look out the nearby window at the night sky.

The biggest benefit by far to the nature of this palace and the world was that it left the night sky so vividly full of stars. No light pollution to mask the beauty.

His mind wandered back to when he and Lucy had taken a trip to an area where there was little light pollution and they could see the stars. This by far was a more beautiful sight but that was definitely a more enjoyable moment.

He sighed when he realised what his thoughts had changed to and pushed his head back against the pillow. _More guilt!_ his thoughts practically yelled at himself.

Chad closed his eyes, trying to will himself to sleep. As he did he let his mind focus on this for one more vague hope. _Lucy. I promise I'll come back. If there is just one cheesy cliché this universe can enforce, please let it be the one where you can hear this.._

He slowly drifted off to sleep with the light of the stars shining through the window. For a moment, particles of azure light flickered into existence around his body; hovering like they were the light of stars themselves around him.

They faded away soon after, leaving him to his peaceful slumber.

* * *

 **Author Notes** :

Note 1: Sylleblossoms are from Final Fantasy XV.

Note 2: The name Kyoko Kuremi is from Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. We'll come back to this note in a later chapter.

Note 3: As mentioned in prologue. Up to this chapter was all uploaded from the start. Might not get another chapter up before the new year. I kinda want to sit back and reward myself with catching up on other content; now that I've finally been productive again after all these years. But I shouldn't keep you waiting too long for next chapter.

Until next time.


	5. Chapter 4: Open Your Heart

**Chapter 4: Open Your Heart**

 _"Lucy. I promise I'll come back."_

Lucy's eyes snapped open; immediately sitting bolt upright in her bed as she glanced around her bedroom. _No-one. Of course not._

Lying back down; frustrated with herself at imagining the sound of his voice, she stared up at the ceiling and quietly sighed.

A glance over her fully clothed form, she vaguely recalled feeling tiredness overwhelm her while speaking to Richard. Her left hand hesitated as it reached out to her phone on top of bedside drawers.

Looking at the screen; there was still nothing from Chad but there was a text from Richard to say he was checking on some leads of his own, that he'd be back some point soon.

There was the sound of voices coming from downstairs. Familiar voices. Slowly getting to her feet and well aware of her current appearance; but lacking any care about it, Lucy slowly made her way out of her room and down the stairs.

A well spoken young woman's voice was the first one she began to make out clearly, "I do share your faith, Summer. However I strongly believe we shouldn't feel too relaxed until the situation is resolved. I worry about her in the meantime."

Another young woman's voice, more relaxed, answered bluntly "So we just do as good friends do: support her as always. You're over-complicating it, Sara."

"Honestly, Akira. It's moments like this where you start to resemble your cousin."

"In a good way?"

"You must already know the answer to that."

At this point Lucy entered the dining room and kitchen; stopping as Summer and the two guests turned to look at her. There leaning back in one chair was Akira Hayami, a jacket hanging over the back of the chair and her clothing just a long sleeved maroon shirt, and a dark brown skirt over black leggings.

Sitting upright in another chair was a young white skinned woman in her early 20's, long blonde hair tied up with a red ribbon into a long ponytail, her clothing a lavender dress going down past her knees with the sleeves taking up three quarters of her arms length, hanging from her neck on a chain was a blue gem embedded in a circular gold pendant.

Her cyan coloured eyes widened as she stared at Lucy's appearance, Lucy looked down as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

Despite the almost refined way of speaking a moment ago, this other woman's voice now slipped into being much more blunt "bloody hell, Luce."

Lucy kept trying to avoid eye contact, focusing her gaze down at her feet. "It's...not a big deal."

The blonde had got up to her feet and walked over, pulling Lucy against her, arms holding her close, "Hafta disagree. I've bloody told you to look after yourself more."

"Voice is slipping again, Sara" Akira called out. Sara paid her no notice.

Lucy relaxed into the comforting hold, sighing a little. Summer had done well to help Lucy but there was only so much she could do when Lucy was so stubborn. Sara Rhys had always been one of her closest friends though and just seemed to have a knack for getting Lucy to listen.

"Sara, I'm not concerned with myse-"

"-Lucy." Sara cut her off, her voice returning to the more elegant tone it was prior yet with a stern force to it. "This isn't a debate. Important step in taking care of your mental health is to look after yourself. You first, then other problems."

She tried to protest again but Sara was already leading her back to the stairs "Shower, now. Summer, how has she been eating?"

"I've convinced her to eat but she's definitely not been eating much."

"Am I being ganged up on here?"

Akira stood up as well, smiling gently over to Lucy while she made her way into the kitchen. "Supported is how we'd word it. I'll handle the food, Sara."

It took Sara leading her all the way upstairs and standing guard at the door but eventually Lucy had relented and taken a shower. Now she sat in the dining room, in fresh clothing, and having eaten a decent amount of food for a change.

She did admittedly feel more refreshed and a sense of energy. She looked over to Summer; noticing the relief in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Summer."

"Hey now, what are you apologising for?"

"I kept isolating myself; I can't imagine how this is for you. I should've been there for you too."

Summer's hands reached out; gently taking Lucy's trembling own into them, steadying them. "Lucy, I promised your parents I'd take care of you. You don't have to push yourself. You don't have to burn yourself trying to be a light for others."

Lucy stayed silent, just appreciating the comfort in summer's actions and words. She was right, of course she was right. But it was so difficult to actually follow that mentality "I just…don't know what to do. It's all this waiting."

Sara lowered the cup of tea from her mouth, eyes closed as she spoke up "It seems to me that might be part of the problem."

"Sara?" Lucy looked over to her friend who opened her eyes to look back with a softened gaze.

"Lucy, you've almost always taken the initiative. Sitting back and waiting doesn't suit you."

Akira smiled, her arms on the table propping up her head as she smiled over at Lucy "She's got a point. Why not put all that tech talent to use and start looking into things?"

"I wouldn't know where to start."

Summer added again to the conversation now "Kyoko wouldn't say no to your help, Lucy. Sara's right, you need to have more control in the situation. It's the only way for you."

"I'll…think about it."

"For now though, I think we all could do with a change of conversation" Sara said as she began to have more of her tea. "Refresh your minds with some semblance of peace for today."

* * *

With closed eyes, Chad sat with his legs crossed on the artificially created grass plains of a simulated environment. Concentrating as he felt the gentle breeze passing over him, letting himself feel a sense of peace in tune with nature; albeit an artificial one.

Slowly his left hand stretched out in front of him, hand opening up as if to grasp something. After another minute passed; the one-handed sword he had been given appeared in his grip.

He opened his eyes and smiled as he looked at the manifested weapon and then let it vanish once again.

He still had a long way to go on combat training but now that he was at least getting some basic moves down they had taken a step into other forms of training.

Anna had informed him that many of them were capable of summoning and storing objects within a personal pocket dimension. Its main use was to store and summon weapons with ease. Some would prefer to keep their weapons by them as much as possible such as Link, but even he would use it to store other tools and weapons to aid him in his adventures.

Chad was getting the hang of calling for the manifestation of stored objects such as his sword but it took him time to get it to happen. Quickly summoning something was still going to take more practice.

A closely tied aspect of the training was that they had tried to turn the blade into his personal weapon. According to Anna; it was possible to directly tether a weapon to the wielder's soul, various worlds had similar concepts. The first benefit to tethering a weapon into an extension of the user's own soul was that opponents would struggle to suppress them calling upon weapons.

The second benefit was that the weapon could continue to grow in strength, evolve and change with the growth of the user's soul and power. The quality of the weapon could be maintained easier too with a higher durability. If the weapon was to break then it would either be a catalyst to transformation or would slowly repair while dormant and connected to their soul.

The catch to all this had been that it just didn't work for Chad. Even with Anna, Link and Zelda trying to act as conduits for him to channel a connection, they could not get a bond going between Chad and the sword.

The weapon was ordinary, no special restrictions to it, so the fault clearly did not lie with the sword. Chad suggested to them that with all the 'Chosen Warrior' clichés surrounding the Game Master; there was a possibility that maybe a weapon was out there waiting for him.

They were quick to inform him that it shouldn't matter; one could have multiple weapons tethered to their soul, forming a representation of who they are. Zelda did however partially agree in that it could mean there might be a weapon that's too closely tied to him out there that it would not allow further connections.

Chad sighed as he stood up, thinking back on this. _So either there's something more to this, or I need to try a lot harder at connecting to a weapon._

Exiting the simulation back into the palace of power; he arrived to find Anna and the others had been joined by a guest: Ciel of the Mega Man Zero games.

She brushed some of her blonde hair back as she nodded to Anna "Alright, let's see if it works out. You can activate it without vocal commands but if it helps you focus, feel free to utilise that."

Anna nodded back and closed her eyes to concentrate, Chad watched on from where he arrived; curious at what she was meant to be testing out.

"Set up." With that simple command, an energy aura flared up around Anna as a light covered her body. When this light shattered away into particles; her clothing had changed.

Ordinary clothes to relax in had now been replaced by a more battle-ready uniform: Short sleeved sky blue top, white bracers on her arms, sapphire blue trousers with white thin armour like panels down the sides. Black boots completed the outfit. The clothing was sleek and streamlined, and seemed to offer decent mobility to the wearer. The design and style definitely gave an impression of being from a more advanced world like that of the Megaman worlds.

Ciel smiled, pleased with the successful manifestation of this outfit. "The Barrier Jacket is completely customisable by the wearer on its appearance; you can even design new modes for specific focus of your power. The extra energy and magic based defence of it should help a lot."

Chad had heard the term Barrier Jacket before. Originating from a series known as Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, it was a defensive spell used by mages in an interdimensional military and government known as the Time-Space Administrative Bureau.

Once activated it would form an outfit, magical armour, to help protect the user from harm. As far as defence goes it wasn't perfect but it sure was reliable and versatile.

Anna smiled and de-activated it, returning to ordinary clothing "Thank you, Ciel. You, your sister and my sister really have helped a lot here."

Ciel shook her head but smiled "We can't take all the credit. Neo Arcadia has been talking with the Bureau at Midchilda. Barrier Jackets are their specialty; we've just been studying how to adapt it to further our Biometal research. But we knew bringing these abilities to you would help a lot."

"It's definitely appreciated, we-" Anna trailed off as she saw Chad had rejoined them all "Oh, good timing."

Taking that as a cue, Chad walked up to join the group and conversation "Hey, it's nice to meet you, Dr. Ciel." Chad shook her hand and she greeted him in return. "I wasn't expecting Neo Arcadia to be in contact with Midchilda." He paused for a moment, "Come to think of it, there's a lot about your world's timeline I'm not clear on."

Whatever explanation Ciel was about to offer to Chad was interrupted as a blue blur sped past them. The wind picked up in the room as said blue blur circled the room multiple times at a fast speed. Anna shook her head sighing.

The blur suddenly came to a skidding halt before the group revealing a humanoid blue hedgehog with green eyes. Chad's eyes lit up a little as he happily looked at the arrival.

The blue hedgehog stood up right; smiling cheerfully as he waved his hand out "Yo, Anna. Been meaning to dash by after we got told you were found. Glad to see you're okay."

"Thank you, Sonic" Anna greeted him then sighed again "Do you always have to arrive showing off?"

Sonic flashed a grin at her, "absolutely."

"Why did no one tell me Sonic the Hedgehog was part of this group as well?" Chad interrupted, excited smile on his face at encountering one of his first favourite video game characters.

Sonic turned to Chad and as he did; his eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed to a look of confusion as he scratched at his ear. "This is Chad Oswald" Anna spoke up a little too quickly. "He's a new Game Master from the same place as my father."

Sonic's head tilted a little as he looked at Chad, almost studying him…then just shrugged without a care in the world, smiling over at him "Well I'm not gonna start sweating the weird details at this point." Sonic offered his fist out, Chad moved his in response and shared a fist bump as Sonic grinned further "Can't wait to fight alongside you."

Sonic clicked his fingers and turned back to face Anna, motioning his hand over to her as he turned "Speaking of which, came here to ask if you'd like to help crack open an Egg."

Rock spoke up at this point; one eyebrow rose quizzically, "Dr. Robotnik has been quiet for a while. What is he up to this time?"

"While we were all looking for any sign of Anna, old Egghead went and got his hands on the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic stretched his arms, his demeanour and smile still so confident despite the potential danger of this situation, "He's just holed up in his base right now but we figure we'll take them back before he can try anything."

"It is for the best to act now, prevent any extra problems" Anna agreed. She smiled proudly at Sonic, "that's a really mature decision, Sonic."

"Yeah, Tails and Ames came up with a good plan. It's going to be sweet to get some action again."

Anna sighed as the feeling of pride evaporated in an instant.

Sonic cocked his head over to Chad and gave a thumbs up at him "You coming? Love to get to see your moves."

"Yes!"

"No."

While Chad gave an enthusiastic agreement, Anna had immediately and sternly denied the opportunity at the same time. The new game master frowned a little; facing her, "Oh come on, Anna, it's Eggman. With all of us this will be a cinch."

"You're still new to this," Anna reminded him, her arms crossing. She was not willing to back down on this. "Even with us all there, I'm not risking you going into more battles until we cover more training."

Chad's left hand raised one finger upright as he opened his mouth to protest. Nothing came out except a sigh as he relented "Guess I can't argue with that." As much as he really wanted to come along, he was so early into training. Weapon combat was already going to take a while; let alone how he hadn't learnt or unlocked any kind of powers yet.

Sonic lightly slapped Chad on his back, smiling reassuringly at him. "Relax dude, you'll get another chance."

Anna watched the interaction, her eyes blinking a little; taken aback. She was expecting a bit more protest from Chad on this, not that she was complaining this was how things turned out. "Link," she got his attention as the Hylian hero looked over "Are you okay with staying here and continuing the training?"

"I can, just make sure you all stay safe" Link's gaze focused on Zelda as he spoke the last two words. A soft smile and a nod she gave in comforting response to his worries.

"Ciel, would you be able to stay some moments longer to give Chad the Barrier Jacket ability too?"

"Of course, Anna."

The group left with Anna holding back a moment to thank Chad for agreeing to her terms, once they left he turned to Link "So after this barrier jacket, what's next on the agenda?"

"I'm thinking we put some more effort into improving your reflexes and reactions."

Chad's face paled "Put simply: dodge or get hit"

"I think I make it sound better."

* * *

"A new Game Master?"

Deep within the central command chamber of one of his hidden fortresses: the robotics expert known as Dr. Ivo Robotnik, or Dr. Eggman, sat in a large chair looking upon many holographic displays. Upon one was a video call with Dr. Wily.

Eggman couldn't help but chortle at Wily's misfortune "Oh, Albert. You couldn't keep one princess and a new game master, with no training or skill to his name, captive?"

Dr. Wily's eyes narrowed; there was no amusement in this for him. "Don't speak too soon, Ivo. You're aware that your nemesis has gone to the Palace of Power to get help, you may find yourself faced with the same issue."

Standing up dramatically with a flourish of his right hand out to the screen, clenching that hand into a fist, Eggman began to boast "Sonic and the others will pose no issue to me now. Not when I have recruited a talented mercenary, designed my latest greatest invention and obtained the Chaos Emeralds!"

A small red and black robot with a rounded head, its lower body being a ball joint connected to a semisphere, popped up besides Eggman "We're well into double digits now of these sayings; ergo it's no surprise Dr. Wily has little faith."

Eggman's hand moved to whack the robot over the head. He ignored the following complaint. "Ignoring Orbot's little sass defect, I assume this call isn't just to offer a warning?"

The hands of Wily clasped together, the mad scientist sitting back in a chair as his eyes narrowed to a deeply serious expression. "No matter how this battle plays out, I have come to a decision of starting a new alliance."

Another laugh came from Eggman as he replied, "So you would like our genius to reach new heights together? Well when worlds collide, so must we."

"Not just us." Wily's lips began to part to reveal a widening grin, forming along with a master plan in his head. "When Kevin Keene started out, some of us worked together but it was nothing stable. They were nothing but a bunch of temporary allegiances easily broken."

"Those 'heroes'-" Wily waved his hand as if he was knocking aside the very concept he disagreed with, "-continue to ally with other worlds, other fighters. If we are to reshape this cosmos then it's time to begin a gathering."

Now a wide grin formed on Eggman's own face "Intriguing. You have my attention, Albert." Behind his sunglasses, his eyes looked over to another holographic screen alerting him to numerous figures getting closer to his base "But for now, I have guests I must show the hospitality of the Eggman Empire to."

* * *

Despite the impressive scale of the base and its overly designed features, it had to be admitted that Eggman had held back for once.

It had been expected for a massive series of facilities out here deep in a desert region, but instead there was a lone grey steel dome sitting atop the sand. Eggman's usual logo, showcasing his ego with a stylised design of his face, was embedded on the top giving no doubts this was his current base of operations.

A transport airship had landed upon a cliff overlooking this mechanical fortress, there waiting for the group were two humanoid animals and a robot.

The black hedgehog with red streaks stood at the edge of the cliff, hands crossed in front of him. He glanced over his shoulder at the group leaving the ship "Tch, what took you so long?"

Sonic flashed a grin at Shadow the Hedgehog, walking up to him with his hands behind his head "Chill out, Shadow." His eyes half closed as his expression turned into a cheeky and teasing smirk "At your age you've got to keep that temper down."

Shadow just ignored the jab, returning his attention to the base below. If Shadow was impatient, then he was meditating in comparison to the robot: E-123 Omega who loudly spoke out "Mission behind projected schedule. Current destroyed Eggman creations: zero. This is unsatisfactory."

The other humanoid animal in this group, a white bat with purple wings, dressed rather provocatively, sighed while her eyes rolled "You don't know how hard it was to keep this mission as just recon."

Anna walked up, accompanied by Zelda, Megaman and Protoman. Samus had already left the Palace of Power to resume various bounty hunting assignments and to keep an eye on the Space Pirates she had had far too many encounters with. "I'm sorry about the wait, Rouge. Do we know what we're dealing with?"

"Either the Doctor is getting careless or he's luring us into a trap. We haven't been attacked yet when we scoped the perimeter out. Everything is likely on the inside."

Sonic punched his fist into the palm of his other hand, excitement welling up within him "He's inviting us in, be rude to keep him waiting."

"Sonic," came a chiding tone from one of his friends, the pink hedgehog known as Amy Rose, holding a large hammer over one shoulder. "We should at least go in with a plan."

"I have a plan," Sonic said nonchalantly, his stance shifting to one ready to sprint away "I plan to win."

And with that there was a burst of air, sand kicking up a little, as they watched a blue blur speed down the cliff and towards the base.

"And there he goes," spoke another of Sonic's friends, the twin tailed yellow fox: Tails. His words came with a sigh of expectance. Sonic was far too predictable.

Knuckles groaned out in frustration and began stretching his arms, readying them for the fight "Well let's start catching up, can't let him have all the fun."

Shadow unfolded his arms and called what appeared to be a chaos emerald to his hands, a fake one. "I can't get us inside with this, it can't override the barrier the doctor has made with the emeralds, but I can get us close enough."

Anna nodded at him, "go right ahead, Shadow. Please."

Shadow lifted the fake chaos emerald above him and called out a command "Chaos Control!"

In a flash of green and white light, the group warped away within a generated field of chaos energy.

* * *

When they materialised closer to the base, it was revealed there had in fact been some exterior defences. This was clear by Sonic calmly and cheerfully running about weaving in-between a barrage of laser fire from turrets trying to keep up with him.

Sonic rolled and flipped over a few beams then stood still smiling over at the group "Ready to have some fun, guys?" The turrets all aimed at him, firing a barrage all at once.

Sonic's legs bent and he kicked himself off from the ground into the air, the turrets moved up to follow him with shots but with a burst of air he rolled into a ball and performed his homing attack technique, soaring over the lasers and ripping right through one of the turrets.

Tails with his ability to fly, flew in-between two turrets and then craftily manoeuvred out of the way to let the resulting shots take the other turret out. Rouge herself was using her flying in order to get above turrets and come slamming down with her foot through them.

Punching them hard enough to send out small shockwaves, Knuckles had been simply running in and punching through one after another, digging into the ground when necessary to avoid shots. No shot could even touch Amy; the swings of her hammer may have looked wild but each one was targeted, perfectly deflecting away any that came her way.

More turrets popped out of the ground to aim at Shadow and Omega, Shadow just grunted out "Useless" and raised one hand. With a swing of his arm, Shadow unleashed another of his chaos energy based attacks; the chaos spear.

A barrage of yellow energy bolts cast out from his hand and tore through several turrets all while he didn't even move from the spot he stood. As for the rest of the turrets, "annihilate! Destroy!" With that call; Omega's hands retracted into his arms, machine guns emerging to replace. An onslaught of bullets fired out tearing through the turrets and peppering the walls of the base with shots.

Megaman and Protoman had kept close together for the combat, buster shots tearing through any turrets that targeted them while Protoman's shield defended them; they made a perfect combination.

Zelda had instead of her rapier, materialised an ornate holy looking bow to her hands. Each time she pulled the string back; an arrow made purely of light would form. Light arrow after light arrow would pierce perfectly through the optics on each turret, destroying them with ease.

Anna kept her defended, energy barrier constructs formed out of psychic power manifesting to shield from attacks. Whenever there was an opportunity; Anna would turn that psychic force into containment fields around turrets, crushing them within the pressure.

Flipping back and throwing one hand out in front of him, Sonic released a built up energy attack; blue energy moving like the wind lashed out and tore through a few more turrets, his Sonic Wind attack. Very few turrets remained at this point "Yo Knuckles, Omega! It's time to bring the gates down!"

Once again, Omega's hands retracted in; this time to be replaced by missile launchers. "Affirmative, beginning gatecrasher protocols."

Explosions after explosion as missiles continuously fired out from the war machine, crashing against the fortified sealed doorway to this base, slowly but surely weakening the structural integrity.

When the assault finally ceased, Knuckles channelled as much energy as he could into his fists and dived at the doorway. With one powerful impact the damaged steel broke apart creating a large hole.

Moving into the base, the crunching sound of their feet against sand shifted to the sound of clanging on the metal, echoing around the large chamber they found themselves in.

With his hands on his hips, Sonic looked up surveying the room; beginning to call out "Hey! Aren't you going to come out and greet us, Egghead?"

A hologram projected itself into the centre of the room, towering above them as a giant representation of Eggman himself. One hand absentmindedly stroking his oversized moustache, his gaze sneering down at them all, "How wonderful of you to show up my nemesis, I have my best work ready for you this time."

"Heard it all before," Sonic said back confidently, pacing back and forth as he held his arms out, the posture of his body matching his voice in confidence "Your plan will end like they always do: with you sitting in a pile of busted robot parts wondering how you failed so badly."

Eggman surveyed the group, taking note of each one of them. Eventually he focused solely on Anna. Almost instinctively Protoman and Megaman had moved to stand in front of her; preparing for any possible danger. "Every face here I recognise, how curious. I thought I would get to see this so-called new Game Master?"

"What you're seeing is all you're getting, Dr. Robotnik" Anna calmly replied as she stepped forward. "It's all that's needed; now why not make this easy and come quietly?"

A moment passed as Eggman just remained looking at the group…then as his hologram vanished, numerous panels opened up on the walls of this large chamber; many, many of the eggrobo design machines began to fly out and hover around them, guns at the ready.

"Well, I guess he's still stubborn" Zelda mused, her bow raised and ready for combat again.

Amy looked for the closest group to her, holding her hammer at the ready, already planning on damaging the base at the same time if needed. "Well looks like you're getting all the action you want, Sonic."

The blue speedster was already stretching his legs, that excitement hadn't faded one bit. He stood back up and winked "Come on, this is nothing. Let's blast them away!"

The first to react was Omega who really didn't need much encouragement to fulfil his self-appointed primary programming. Hands replaced by machine guns once more, bullets wildly flying out to tear through the swarm floating above them, a swarm that began to scatter to avoid this onslaught. All while Omega would only continue with claims of "Annihilate. Destroy. Terminate."

The battle resumed once again, the army of Eggman held a much higher count in numbers. But in the face of such skilled warriors, quantity held no advantage.

The bombardment of lasers was dodged or blocked, machinery no matter how well designed was pierced through, sliced, crushed by the overwhelming might of the attackers.

Eggman had taken as many advantages as he could, he had challenged Sonic to stop him… and Sonic had responded in kind by gathering his own advantages.

Spinning on the spot, Tails used his momentum to throw Knuckles up into the midst of a group, the echidna's fists smashing through steel and circuitry one after another.

Anna looked to the nearby Amy with a smile "need a lift?" Amy nodded back with her own smile. An aura of telekinetic energy surrounded her, Anna launching her into the air. The gathered eggrobos before her had no chance to react before she brought the hammer down.

The speedster hedgehogs now used their speed to run sideways on the actual walls, shots burning away at the metal behind each step. Both kicked off from their respective walls, crossing each other's path in mid-air. Sonic shot a grin back, which surprisingly even Shadow returned with his own smirk.

Those pursuing Shadow were intercepted by Sonic rolling himself into a spin-attack in mid-air; a shockwave bursting out with a sonic boom echoing around the room as he tore through them.

Those pursuing Sonic were intercepted by Shadow, kept in the air by the jets in his sneakers, as his fists and feet broke through one after another, the last few dispatched with another chaos spear technique.

Room by room the group advanced, dispatching any machinery Eggman sent their way with their combined skill and team-work. This was the very thing Wily had concerns about. Alone they all possessed skill, but together these heroes became a force capable of rising again and again.

Finally they arrived in one last large chamber; there waiting for them was a towering grey mecha, red lights forming an outline at certain segments of its body.

Its body a round egg shape, legs heavily armoured, arms becoming thick gauntlets with three large spikes for fingers, the head contained only one large singular red optic and a red panel substituting for a mouth.

Eggman's "oh-hohoho" laugh echoed around the room as a holographic screen displayed him sitting in a pilot's seat of sorts. He was in control of this mecha. "Welcome to the end, you must be getting tired by now."

"Dream on, you know I can do this all day," Sonic shot back, taking a few steps forward. "Make these machines as big as you like, they'll fall twice as hard!"

Eggman's hand stroked his moustache again; still chuckling a little at the gathered heroes. "I revisited an old favourite and improved it. Behold the new prototype Death Egg Robot Sentinel."

Protoman readied his buster again, looking up and down at the towering machine; studying it "Prototype huh, well if Eggman's anything like Dad and Wily, should be a fault we can exploit." The bitterness to his words was anything but subtle.

"But wait, there's more," as Eggman spoke, a new holographic screen displayed revealing another chamber elsewhere in the base; an artificially made emerald shrine. Each of the chaos emeralds placed to form a perfect circuit of sorts around a power core.

"Should've brought the Master Emerald despite the risk" Knuckles complained mostly to himself.

Tails was busy studying what he could see of the technology, the system Eggman had set up. Unfortunately he gasped in worry at what he could see "That's not just powering this entire base. Sonic! He has it set up to act as a relay, he doesn't need the chaos emeralds close by to power this machine."

"That's right, fox boy," Eggman dramatically gave a flourish of his hand again and began to perform an altered version of a chant they had all heard before. "The servers are the seven chaos, chaos is power, power enslaved by my genius. The system serves to harvest the power. Now, empower my creation!"

Each of the chaos emeralds were consumed in their own light, their radiance filling the chamber they lie in. A red aura began to surround the Death Egg Robot, chaos energy empowering it far beyond its standard specifications. At the same time barriers covered the doorways to this room that themselves sealed up with bulkheads.

"I better get paid a lot of beautiful jewels for this" Rouge said, letting out a sigh.

"Shadow, can you counter this?" Anna turned to ask, disappointed when she saw him shake his head.

"His system overrides my attempts to remotely access them. I can't warp out of here with Chaos Control either." He moved his posture into a battle ready stance "Unless that system is shut down, we're going into this the hard way."

Anna glanced over her shoulder to Zelda while everyone prepared for battle. Zelda nodded in understanding and pulled out a phone looking com-device.

While this plan began to get set into motion, the thundering steps of the mecha drawing closer echoed around the room. "Let's get this party started!" Sonic called out, diving first into the fray.

* * *

Chad groaned out in frustration, gently patting at his head with a cold wet towel handed to him by Roll. The training had been, well not painful due to the safety barriers, but still rough.

Link wanted Chad to practice his reflexes and so he had not held anything back. Chad had lost count of how many times he had been hit and knocked to the floor. Sure, Link's logic of "If you can learn to dodge my best, you'll be leaps ahead" was a sound idea. But it wasn't a fun one when he was still struggling with that fact.

"Think you overdid it, Link."

The hero from Hyrule peered over at Roll from where he sat, smiling pleasantly "He's just looking for sympathy attention."

"The only thing worse than this is when I agreed to spar with Lucy and Blue" Chad murmured to himself, still half dazed from exerting himself so much. While Chad had studied a school of Karate known as Wadō-ryū, Lucy and Blue had both become students of a very selective martial arts master teaching his own personalised style, Jigen Haō-ryū was the name as far as Chad could remember.

He had not been prepared at all for the skill and strength behind their martial arts. First and last time he agreed to spar with them.

His thoughts were interrupted when the computer system nearby began to ring as if being called. Dr. Light activated the communications on it displaying the face of Zelda.

Zelda was busy keeping herself behind a barrier formed by Anna while the battle waged in the background "Dr. Light, Link, can you hear me? Is this stable?"

Link had immediately stood up and came over besides Dr. Light to investigate "Zelda, what do you need?"

"We're in need of outside interference to tip the scales."

Zelda rapidly began to inform them of the system Eggman had set up; Link picked up on what was needed without the need for much in-depth explanation. "I understand, I'll teleport down and make my way into the base, I'll get this shut down."

She smiled sweetly at him, simply nodding as she de-activated the call to return her full focus to the battle.

Chad came up to join Dr. Light, Roll and Link, his sword still manifested and ready in his hands "Alright, I'm ready."

"I can't take you with me, Chad."

"Link," Unlike earlier, Chad was now sterner with his voice, more determined. "I know Eggman, I know his bases. I can help"

"This isn't a game!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Chad loudly protested back at him. "But escaping from Wily, there were still enough similarities to what I've seen in games. I can help, I know what to expect."

"Chad," Dr. Light was the one to argue the point this time "it is far too dangerous for you to involve yourself in a battle like this with your lack of experience."

"Right now, it's also dangerous for Anna and the others!" Chad argued back, "theoretically a majority of Eggman's forces should be dealt with; all attention will be on them. We can slip in and I can use my knowledge to our benefit."

Dr. Light looked to Roll; his daughter looked back with an expression that told him she was actually inclined to agree with Chad on this. He looked over to Link who looked back then over to Chad again. "You promise you'll stay safe?"

"I promise."

Link stayed silent for a moment, mulling it over. He sighed and relented, "alright. Anna and Zelda are going to kill me but alright."

Chad concentrated and activated his Barrier Jacket. Compared to the customised appearance of Anna's, Chad's manifested as a simple shirt and trousers, the colouring just a dull grey. He had been questioned earlier about this by Roll. His only explanation was that yes he had imagined outfits but with his lack of skill right now he didn't feel like he was ready to have the appearances he had imagined so often.

"Lead the way, Link."

The two moved over to the teleport platform in the corner of the room, Dr. Light began to activate it from the computer console "Be careful you two. Chad… Don't pull anything risky."

"Seriously," Roll added in, "Play it safer than safe."

Chad smiled back at them, winking "Relax. We've got this."

As the two disappeared, Dr. Light deeply sighed and looked to his daughter, "his confidence oddly doesn't give me any."

* * *

The mecha's defence was holding up strong. Amy had swung with all her might at joints of its legs but not had any luck giving them even a crack.

Their attacks might at least force the machine to take a step back, momentarily knocking it off balance. But they couldn't seem to deal any actual damage as far as they could tell. The armour was good but it wasn't that good; the only possible explanation was that the constant supply of chaos energy was shielding it further.

A large laser fired out of the optic, carving a path through the floor; chasing the group. Anna slowed it as best she could with a barrier, Zelda joining in with her light based powers.

The laser began to fade, one hand of the mecha pulled back and then slammed forward towards the group. Anna and Zelda did not move, the spikes drew close and it was only when the fist grew near that they sprung into action.

Jumping up into the air, supported by Anna's own psychic powers, the two landed on top of the arm. The bow of light vanished from Zelda's hands; replaced by her rapier.

Summoning her zapper like weapon to her hand, Anna ran up the length of the arm alongside Zelda; peppering the machine with shots from the weapon despite the lack of damage.

The optic turned to face them, red light filling their vision as it began to charge up a laser. Anna glanced at Zelda, both nodded at each other; they were on the same wavelength throughout this fight. Anna didn't even need to communicate psychically to her, they just knew each other well enough by this point.

The laser fired out, Anna grabbed Zelda and blasted the arm with a shockwave of telekinetic energy, propelling the two into the air and landing on the other arm.

The laser hit the arm they once stood on, an aura of chaos energy rippled and cracked, small cracks did form on the arm but that was the extent of the damage. The aura recovered its protection too.

Anna and Zelda hadn't waited to analyse the result though, they had continued running up the new arm, jumping off only when they reached the shoulders. Soaring through the air to the optic, Anna fired a shot from her zapper, empowered by her own psychic capabilities while Zelda stabbed forward her rapier; surrounded in light.

They strained against the barrier, determined to break through, trying to ignore Eggman's laughter. Megaman and Protoman released powerful charge shots at the legs along with a bombardment of weapons fire from Omega; this too failed to make any noteworthy impact.

Anna and Zelda landed back on the ground and jumped back to regroup with the others "I thought we were getting somewhere but the perpetual energising the emeralds give is too much."

Knuckles pulled back from the most recent punch he had done to the machine; shaking his hand as he practically growled a little. "Best we can do is keep holding out until that system is shut down."

"Hold out?" Eggman called out; glee filling his entire tone of voice, "let me hammer into your skulls what you're dealing with here." The aura of chaos energy began to intensify, violently sparking around the machine.

Shadow recognised the aura and began to summon what chaos energy he could around himself "Everyone together, and brace yourself!"

The group gathered together, as close as they could. Protoman held out his shield before them while Anna and Zelda formed their own respective barriers around the group. Megaman activated an old copied ability known as the Mirror Buster, forming an energy shield before the group too.

Shadow contributed last forming what chaos energy he could muster as an extra layer of barrier. The team stood ready as the chaos energy around the Death Egg Robot Sentinel reached its peak.

"Chaos Blast!"

The wave of energy burst out as an explosion from the mecha. Expanding to cover the room and engulf the heroes within it. With nowhere to run they could only stand there and brace against the consuming painful energy.

The barriers didn't hold up but they lasted long enough to shield the majority of the attack. The room itself now barely stood; cracks along the walls and floor, lingering chaos energy flickering upon them like the embers of flames.

Anna stood upright, breathing heavily along with the others; and yet still not showing any signs of backing down. Staring up at Eggman's machine with defiance, "It's not over yet, just a little longer."

* * *

Not needing to meet up with others first, Chad and Link had been transported down to the desert region outside the base and quickly began running across the sand; thankful that the turret defences were all taken care of by the group earlier.

They arrived in the initial main chamber, stopping to take note of their surroundings. Or at least Link was analysing the area, Chad was hunched over with his hands on his knees, breathing out heavily, "I am…not…physically fit enough…for this."

"I can't hear any sounds of combat, they must be further in" Link murmured to himself, looking at the remains of eggrobos littering the ground.

"I think my lungs are going to explode."

"Chad, do you see anything yet that might lead us to the emeralds?"

Chad took a deep breath and stood back upright, turning his head to look around the room for anything out of the ordinary "So far nothing, but this is only the first room, I think we should-"

" _Chaos is power. Power enriched by the heart."_

Link looked over to Chad, puzzled at him trailing off "we should what?"

Chad held his hand up, looking around the room with his own puzzled expression "Shush."

" _Feel the wind of the Azure Sky once more within your heart"_

"Do you hear that?" Chad asked.

"Hear what?"

"I hear a voice" Chad said back, to make it more unusual; it sounded like his own voice. His right hand moved to rest upon his body over his heart, a strange feeling welling up within him, like he could faintly sense the feeling of a powerful energy.

" _May your heart be your guiding key."_

He looked over to Link, noticing the concern in his eyes "I think…I know where to go. Follow me." Chad began to lead the way, Link followed while keeping close by; determined to keep an eye on Chad.

Room after room they went through, multiple corridors were traversed until they stopped halfway down one. Link looked at Chad for his next suggestion; Chad was simply staring at what appeared to be a wall.

His left hand slowly stretched out, placing the palm against the cold steel. The faint feeling of chaos energy permeated the metal, a sensation of warmth, albeit unstably flickering, flowed through his finger tips; fading as it travelled further up his hand. "I think we can find a route there if we break through this wall."

"Chad, how are you so sure about this?"

"I don't know. I can't explain it, you must know what it's like to just feel something; a power."

Well… he couldn't really argue with that, the legacy he was the latest of had led to him sensing more than he'd expect too many times. But that just perplexed Link further. If Chad was naturally attuned to chaos energy, what could possibly be the reason behind that?

Regardless, Link summoned a bomb to his hands and placed it against the wall, summoning two more for good measure. The two moved further down the corridor as Link lit them.

The moment they had detonated, the two ran back up expecting this to inevitably gain attention. Now the wall had a massive chasm in it revealing a different corridor. This would definitely save time on exploring to find sealed doorways.

Chad took a step over the threshold, turning in a panic when Link yelled out his name. Between the two, covering the chasm a barrier of energy sparkled into life; singing one of the legs of Chad's trousers a little as it just got away.

"Guess Eggman's got plenty of security measures in place" Chad muttered, taking an extra step away from the barrier that seemed to flow throughout the walls now.

"Stay right there, I'll find a way around" Link ordered at him. The barrier began to expand into the corridor itself on Chad's side; he took a few further steps back.

"Yeah, that's not an option."

"Just get to somewhere safe and don't go anywhere, don't do anything. Please." As Chad ran down his new corridor to get further from the defence mechanism, Link ran further down his own while activating his com-link to call Zelda.

It didn't take long for Zelda's voice to respond to his, forgoing any visual based communication this time "Link, tell me you're almost there."

"We've had a slight barrier problem to delay us" Link said back, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "But hang in there, we're getting closer."

A sigh of relief from Zelda while the sounds of combat continued in the background, a few grunts from herself as well as she likely dodged or blocked new attacks "Don't take too long, he hit us with a powerful attack and we don't know how quick the charge time will be." A slight pause "Wait, we?"

At that question and the speed he was running, he almost tripped as his face paled a little. He was hoping to break that news a little softer than letting it slip "I…didn't come alone."

Anna's voice via her own com-link intruding in the conversation broke through loudly "Tell me you brought Samus or anyone else. Tell me you didn't bring Chad."

"I brought Chad" Link caved instantly.

"Put him on right now!"

"…About that."

* * *

The barrier had stopped advancing upon Chad quite a ways back, so really he could've stopped moving ahead at any point and waited for Link.

But technically Link had specifically told Chad to get to somewhere safe. Could anywhere in an enemy base be classified as safe? So if Chad was to just try and find an exit but come across the desired goal, would that be so wrong? And if enemies got in his way, wouldn't it be safe to disable the threat so he could get to somewhere safe?

These were the loopholes Chad was running through his mind as he continued following the presence of power he felt, knowing full well he was in for a massive amount of complaining later on.

But at least that wouldn't be a problem till later on.

His com-link began to ring. "Ah crap." He looked at the screen to see Anna's name, "ah crap."

Gulping and preparing to accept his fate, Chad answered the call and put on his best cheerful voice "Hey Anna, how's it going? Eggman beat yet?"

"What are you doing? And do NOT lie to me, Link already told us." Oh she was not in the mood for any attempt at excuses from him with how instant her reply was.

Despite that, Chad still couldn't help but dryly comment back "So much for the Triforce of Courage, eh?"

"Chad."

He flinched at the stern voice, how she could manage to sound like this while mid-combat he wasn't sure he'd be able to ever figure out. "I'm almost at the chaos emeralds, Anna"

"You-"

Chad quickly cut her frustrated tone of voice off, trying to rationalise the situation, "Anna, I'm safe. There's nothing here, I don't think Eggman expected anyone else to show up. Link should be able to catch up soon. If I can stop the system, you can stop Eggman."

"Just-" Anna began, interrupting herself to sigh out of frustration "-be careful, please."

"I will, I promise." The call ended, Chad felt a little guilty making them all worry this much…but this needed to be done. He couldn't just sit back and hope things would play out smoothly.

It didn't take much more travelling until he emerged into a large chamber. Steps on the other side of the room were leading up to an artificially made replica of a shrine. Each Chaos Emerald was sitting upon a different pillar; each pillar clearly an intricate pylon of sorts channelling the energy to the centre of the shrine. In a normal Chaos Emerald shrine, the Master Emerald would sit there commanding the others, here there was only a large reactor absorbing the power and sending it off to the rest of the base and Eggman's machine.

The only thing stopping Chad from running up to the chaos emeralds…was that he wasn't alone.

Standing there on the steps was a humanoid animal, dog-like in appearance. A jackal if Chad had to place any bets. Black fur with long white thick strands coming from his head almost like dreadlocks, a bushy tail, there was also white stripes curved around his back as though they were representing his rib cages. One blue right eye with a scar above it and one yellow left eye stared at Chad. In his gloved hands he held a curved scimitar; the blade tinted red.

Slowly he walked down the steps, black metal boots clanging against the steel with each step he took. The silence was beginning to feel a little menacingly uncomfortable if Chad was being honest.

Chad took a few steps further into the room and smiled cockily over at the sword wielding jackal "Well… you I don't recognise, Eggman find someone's OC to borrow? Should've asked me, making sonic OCs was how I started out."

"Your voice is uneasy; it betrays the false confidence you display." The jackal's voice however was deep and confident from the moment he spoke. "I was beginning to grow tired of guarding these emeralds, but it seems this day will not be a complete waste."

Chad's grip tightened on the sword in his left hand, keeping his feet firmly planted on the ground, ready for any sudden movements. "Well I'm relieved to be honest; I was half expecting Metal Sonic to be the guard. I think I'll take my chances at fighting you though, you got a name?"

The jackal's own hand tightened on his scimitar, raising it as he stepped off the shrine "All you need to know is that I am a warrior without peer; the ultimate mercenary. There's little point giving a name to one who shall soon be dead."

"How edgy of you, well time to see what I can do as a Game Master," Chad ran forward and swung his blade down. The scimitar swung up and blocked, both pulled back and swung again lower; their blades clashing and pulling apart again.

Chad took a hop back angling his body to the side as he did to avoid a forward jab, following this up by stepping forward with a horizontal slash to try and catch his opponent out. Blocking one-handed with the scimitar vertically downwards; the jackal did not seem troubled at all.

As Chad's blade was pulled back, the jackal swung up again. Chad just managed to deflect it away only to have to keep stepping back swinging to deflect again and again as the jackal kept coming for him.

None of the slashes were going for the kill; he was toying with Chad, trying to see his movements. See if there would be any fun in this fight. Chad did not have to be a mind reader to know that the jackal was growing increasingly disappointed.

"Sloppy," the jackal began to taunt. "You try too hard to use another's swordsmanship; there is no conviction in your movements."

"You know what?" Chad grunted as he blocked a few more slashes, _Time for reckless improvising_. With that thought Chad swung his blade again, not to block but to counter the new diagonal slash from the scimitar.

Both blades clashed against each other, a momentary deadlock, and then as Chad saw the jackal's footing shift to push more pressure on the deadlock; Chad allowed him that movement.

He let go of his blade, pushing himself off to the side turning away from the jackal whose sword knocked Chad's to the ground while swinging through air. Chad mid-turn lifted his foot up and spun around to face the jackal, slamming his foot against the jackal's back.

The momentary stunned surprise as his opponent stumbled forward was enough for Chad to quickly deliver a punch at the back and then kick him further. Wasting no time, Chad rolled forward and picked up his sword; standing up to ready himself for further retaliation.

The jackal righted his posture, turning to glare at Chad…and yet, there was almost a glint of interest beginning to show in that gaze. "You're an amateur but you do have some training it would seem."

"To be honest: I don't remember much of the movements of my karate training, but I remember the basic core principle. Use the movement of your body and your opponent's. I'd call this a bit more of a reckless spin on it, but hey, it works."

"You may provide at least some entertainment after all. Regrettable it still is that I don't get to face the Game Master I have heard tales of."

Chad shifted his footing somewhat, keeping himself ready for any sudden movements now that the jackal was preparing to fight with more vigour. "Well sorry but you get the new guy, not Kevin Keene."

"Not him, the other new Game Master."

Almost slipping out of a defensive posture and only just correcting it in time, Chad stared back at his foe "I'm sorry, the what?"

Whereas Chad kept defensive, the jackal just began to pace back and forth; Chad was not willing to risk betting he was an easy target though. This guy was too skilled of a fighter for that, plus Chad was curious to let him keep speaking. "Recently word has been spreading about a new Game Master, skilled enough with a blade to even hold his ground against the assassin guild: Laughing Coffin."

"You sure there isn't some competition to be the edgiest going on right now?"

"They're dead now but some members even said he survived fighting their leader: PoH."

"And that name stands for?"

"Prince of Hell"

Chad rolled his eyes "Never mind, he won the competition."

"Now that Game Master would've been an interesting fight, but I suppose I can settle for this childish skirmish."

"Well if that's what you think, I guess you'll blush a pretty pink when I kick your ass!" Chad came at the jackal again with sword swings, the jackal now showed more effort in blocking but it was still clear who had the advantage.

Chad tried to be more unorthodox with his movements, throwing in feints when he could but the so-called ultimate mercenary was more ready to adapt to Chad's fighting now.

As Chad attempted his fifth feint, the jackal's hand rushed forward and grabbed him by the face. Losing his balance, Chad was slammed down onto his back. Gasping out for a moment, he quickly swung his blade up just managing to stop the downwards swing of the scimitar.

Except now the scimitar was pushing down against the sword, steel grinding against steel as Chad's arms struggled in this position to prevent both blades lowering closer and closer.

"You laugh to distract yourself from fear. So I will teach you fear and then pain and then…well at least the fear and pain will stop."

Grunting as he put what strength he had into trying to push back the blades, Chad also groaned at the comment "If only your blade cut with the same amount of edge as your personality."

The scimitar pulled back and a metal boot slammed into his side, Chad coughed and spit out saliva at the blow. Another kick came soon after sending him rolling against the steel floor.

"Stand up. Show me your fear."

Chad's hands pushed against the floor weakly, getting himself to his feet as he rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. Despite the pain he forced a smirk to his face, "Sure, you got some Japanese horror films around here at all? They have some really damn unsettling ghosts."

"Still trying to avoid giving in?"

"Hey I'm serious, watching The Ring fucked me up." The jackal was in no mood for Chad's games, leaping forward and punching him to the floor again.

Chad fell and rolled away as the jackal swung the scimitar at him, not close enough to make a deep cut but trying to at least cut him. It tore through part of his shirt and only avoided cutting his skin thanks to the inner energy aura provided by the barrier jacket.

Moving back onto his feet, Chad breathed out, holding his sword at the ready. This wasn't working; he couldn't outmatch this opponent in skill. He needed an advantage, he needed more power… he needed-

-Chad's desperate thoughts froze as he felt his shifting foot back up against the step of the shrine. In all the movement of this battle, their positions had swapped. Chad was now closer to the shrine.

Chaos energy, it was an ancient energy of mysterious origins able to turn thoughts and wishes into power. That was an absolute fact he knew. The Azure had been described to him as a reality altering power, capable of turning thoughts into power.

He thought about the now powerless Biometal granted to him when he was brought to this universe, he thought about how many of his self-inserts had been given chaos energy like powers, how it was his go-to choice.

 _If there's a connection between Azure and Chaos Energy…then maybe I can tip the scales here._

His thoughts were broken by a building pressure of energy; the jackal's blade was slowly covered by a field of dark energy waves "It would seem I need to hit you with more force. Prepare yourself."

Chad's mind began to over-work itself rapidly going over scenarios. He would not have enough time to run up those steps and get to the emeralds, he would surely be stopped. Stopping the jackal was right out of the question too.

The only choice then-

-Chad held his blade at the ready in front of him…this was going to hurt.

The scimitar swung out towards Chad, a crescent shaped wave of dark energy rushed forth away from it.

Chad jumped and swung his blade at the energy, it diffused a portion of the energy but the rest crashed into him. Already in the air thanks to his jump, the clash of energy took him flying up into the air and crashing back down onto the top of the shrine.

Chad lay there, struggling to move as his body twitched a little from the pain. The barrier jacket still held up, there was no wound upon him but it did not change the fact it hurt like hell. Likely was still going to bruise, he was sure.

His head weakly tilted to the side to look at the nearby reactor and some of the Chaos Emeralds positioned on the pillars. Now he just had to hope the pain was worth it for getting him right where he wanted to be.

The jackal began to move towards the shrine, letting the tip of his blade cut through the steel floor as he walked, the sound of steel grinding against steel painfully reaching Chad's ears. "Now… is there any quip you'd like to throw out this time, boy?"

Hoping for this to be the last time, Chad's hands weakly began to push his body up from the ground again. His head remained lowered; looking down at the floor. "The servers are…the seven chaos."

The mercenary stopped, tilting his head as he looked up at the slowly rising game master. "What did you say?"

"Chaos…is power. Power enriched by the heart." The sword was left upon the floor as he got up to his feet, swaying slightly still in a daze.

"What babble are you coming out with now?"

Chad held his arms out on either side of him, concentrating as he continued his imitation of the ancient chant; altering it himself now. "My heart calls upon the chaos to unify it."

One by one the emeralds began to respond, slowly illuminating the room in their radiance. The jackal moved onto the steps but a pressure emanating from the emeralds refused him to get any closer.

"So as I pray." Particles of blue and silver light began to form around Chad, flickering in the air like starlight as they flowed around and away from him to the emeralds as if channelled by wind "Grant me power!"

The request did not go unheard. The reactor shut down, chaos energy no longer tethered to the control of Eggman.

And at the same time, a new red aura burst up around Chad; growing in intensity as he yelled out.

He felt it burn, not a burn to harm him... but instead a rush of energy burning up inside him, engulfing every inch of his body and soul. It didn't feel like it was pouring into him, no…it felt like something had been unlocked. It was overwhelming how much was surging up within him, as though aching to be unleashed. It was chaotic, it was intense, it was…

"…Amazing", Chad stared down at his opponent who stared almost dumbstruck at the sudden display. Chad could only grin back as he called out "Chaos Control!"

A flash of green and white, space-time around Chad shifted at his command as he disappeared. The jackal froze as he heard a surprised gasp from Chad behind him.

Chad had appeared behind him, he had over-shot his warp a little but that didn't stop him from turning and slamming his fist against the jackal, chaos energy empowering it to knock the jackal away this time.

The mercenary was angered now, spinning around to swing his blade. Another chaos control warp, Chad appeared close by almost tripping over; he was still not adjusted to this feeling.

Trying to catch Chad before he could re-adjust his balance and warp again, the scimitar was stabbed towards him. Acting almost on instinct, Chad's hand stretched out with the palm facing the attack.

A small burst of chaos energy erupted out and hit the sword, knocking it free of the hands of its wielder. Chad had hoped for a beam of chaos energy but with this intensity still clouding his mind in a daze and his own inexperience, it had only been a small burst.

With no sword to rely on, the jackal simply took to lashing out at Chad, fast paced punches and kicks one after another.

Chad took a few but quickly began moving in and out of them, Chaos Control warps occurring every so often. He'd never travel far and it was almost always never where he wanted to warp to but it did the trick of keeping him moving.

But all the jackal had to do was keep up the offensive and soon enough he'd catch the young game master out.

The light of a chaos control warp lit up the room from behind him, from atop the shrine…except Chad was still in front of him.

The voice of Shadow the Hedgehog calmly called out "hmph, so what have we here?"

* * *

"Chaos Blast!" Eggman had called out that command once again, they had braced for what could very well have been a very damaging blow for this fight.

And it never came.

The chaos energy aura dissipated around the mecha, Eggman's furious and confused yells were not subtle or muted as he tried to find the reason.

Anna had immediately whirled around to face Shadow "Shadow, can you get to the emeralds?" He nodded, an immediate chaos control warp to disappear, now unrestricted.

She next turned to the rest of the group "Now! We have to take it down right now!"

Megaman and Protoman began to charge up buster shots again, Zelda let fly an arrow of light to start things off. It hit the optic and cracked it.

Eggman retaliated by punching a spiked hand down towards her. A fiery aura surrounded Knuckles as he channelled all the power he could muster into his fists, punching out at the oversized gauntlet.

Spike crashed against fist, the spike began to crack and then shatter to pieces.

Eggman enraged by the tide turning against him, prepared the optic to fire again. This too failed when Megaman and Protoman unleashed their charge shots, joined by Omega's barrage of missiles following it.

The trio's attacks broke apart the optic, heavily damaging the head itself. Its other arm began to move in a sweeping motion to try and just slam into the group.

They were already one step ahead; Tails had thrown Amy high into the air to Rouge who threw her further and faster. Amy came down like a meteor towards the arm, her hammer crashing down upon it with such might that, with the mecha no longer powered by chaos energy, the hammer tore right through a vast majority of it severing it enough to the point the lower portion of the arm just hung limply.

Sonic looked over to Anna and winked at her, she smiled back. He rolled into a ball and kept spinning on the spot, preparing a spin dash attack.

Psychic energy surrounded Anna's hands, she waited until the screeching sound of the spin attack reached its peak…and then as the hero of this world shot forward, her psychic powers reached out and diverted it into the air with no slowdown to him at all.

The spin attack tore right through the destroyed optic and the head of the Death Egg Robot Sentinel.

Sonic uncurled himself in mid-air, landing on the back of the falling sentinel. The group moved aside as it crashed to the ground. A panel opened up on the head; Eggman, Orbot and a similarly designed yellow robot but with a cube theme: Cubot, all fell out onto the floor; covered in dust and soot from the explosions caused by all this damage.

"Sitting in a pile of busted robot parts wondering how you failed so badly~" Sonic's sing-song toned voice called out to the defeated scientist.

"You're coming with us, Doctor Robotnik" Anna said as she walked up, aiming her zapper "It's time you stop trying to conquer the world."

"This-" Eggman began to speak, his hand pressing a button on his belt "-is far from over."

"Emergency teleport activated" both Orbot and Cubot called out, all three disappearing into particles of light.

Anna sighed heavily, lowering her zapper back down "I'm really getting tired of villains doing this."

"Ah, don't worry about it" Sonic cheerfully spoke, jumping down off the sentinel to join them. "Besides, shouldn't we be checking on that friend of yours first."

* * *

As this fight had raged on, Chad had meanwhile backed away from the jackal. The jackal was staring up at Shadow, a tense silence filling the room for a few moments before being broken: "The ultimate life-form: Shadow the Hedgehog. Now this is more like it."

Shadow looked down on him; both figuratively and literally "Get out of my sight."

"You will be my finest victory, Shadow. Then none shall be able to dispute me as the ultimate mercenary."

Shadow's arms had remained crossed over since the moment he showed up "At least my title has backing. Who do you think you are to make such bold claims?"

"A mercenary allowed to remain independent yet still honoured the freedom to work with groups like the Grimleal cult and Ouroboros."

"More claims that mean nothing to me. Now get lost or stop wasting my time."

The jackal took the invitation, jumping up towards Shadow and kicking at him.

In the blink of an eye, Shadow was to the side of the mercenary, his own foot swung up to kick at him; the jets in the sneakers activating to propel the leg forward faster, slamming into him.

Sent flying backwards, the jackal had only just barely righted himself in mid-air when, via Chaos Control, Shadow warped besides him and kicked him higher into the air.

A second warp so that Shadow could hammer his fists down at once on the mercenary, knocking the wind out of him and crashing him back to the ground. But still Shadow did not let up. There was one final warp to the ground where before his foe could land...a point blank chaos spear blasted him away into the wall.

Bleeding and bruised, the mercenary backed up against the wall as Shadow warped to stand in front of him. Eyes now actually trembling, along with his body, he looked up at the ultimate life-form standing over him "Weakling, don't ever show your face again."

All the mercenary could do was sit there injured and dazed as Shadow went over to check on the game master, watch as they retrieved the boy's sword and then left with the chaos emeralds thanks to Shadow's chaos control.

Slowly he looked at his shaking hands, pride shattered so instantly by this fight "I'm…shaking? I'm…afraid? Me? No-" his voice began to grow more manic, desperate "-No! I'm not weak. I'm not-". A scream of rage bellowed forth from him.

* * *

"You were reckless. You were stubborn. You weren't ready-"

Chad flinched with each scolding sentence from Anna. The group was all gathered together now, Link also joining them thanks to the pathways he had taken. Anna had immediately jumped into 'discussing' Chad's involvement in this battle.

"-Lucky you're not dead and how would I explain that to people waiting for you back in your world?" She took a break from her tirade, breathing in deeply. With a sigh she began to relent, "that being said…it was a brave decision that any of us would've made if we were in that situation."

Chad held both hands up pointing like finger guns, with a smile he said to her "So I'm off the hook?"

"Oh no, I'm going to talk about this more later," the finger guns lowered and he clicked his fingers. She did however smile at him, "but thank you for doing what you could. We just need to progress your training more before anything else happens."

Chad smiled back; truthfully he could admit that it was dangerous. But there was no way he could just sit back, knowing that they were all in danger. It did bring him happiness to still have that effort acknowledged and thanked. He'd just have to make up for the risk by trying to master the usage of chaos energy as soon as he could.

Anna turned her attention back to the fighters of this world "Well we're happy we were able to help stop another of Eggman's plans."

Sonic smiled back and in a blink of an eye was now standing besides her as he began to nudge her playfully "Come on, Anna. Beating an evil madman robotics expert like that had to feel cathartic."

"Sonic… did you invite me because you felt I'd like to fight back against someone similar to Wily?"

"You can say it, it was fun."

She paused, he nudged her gently again. A slight smile did come to her face "Well, I guess it was a little nice."

"There we go, proud of you."

"Please don't convert Anna into an action nut, Sonic" Amy said with a sigh. "Anna's always been interesting to talk to about ruins and relics and anything else archaeological. I don't want you to ruin that."

"Speaking of relics" Rouge interrupted, glancing to a corridor with a twinkle in her eyes at the thought. "Boys, I think it's time to see if Eggman's got any valuable treasures lying about."

"Doubtful," Shadow responded. "I expect nothing more than his technology."

"Recommended solution: Complete annihilation of base."

Rouge immediately yelled out "NO!" to Omega's suggestion "If there's no treasure, then the brass at G.U.N can pay us extra for any salvaged tech."

"Compromise suggestion: Destroy seventy-five percent. Salvage twenty-five percent."

"Fifty-Fifty!"

"Acceptable."

Rouge shook her head, mumbling under her breath: "freakin' obsessed." She began to head off deeper into the base, waving over her shoulder to the group "Catch you later, try to keep a better eye on my precious emeralds, Red."

Knuckles didn't dignify her claim with any words; there was a noticeable growl from him though. Omega followed her, the sound of his weapons reloading as he moved. Shadow turned to take a look back at Chad "I may decide to see how far your chaos powers can go, but don't expect much. I have no interest in being a tutor."

"Aw, Shadow. You're trying to be friendly" Sonic couldn't help but tease again. There was just a grunt from the black and red hedgehog as he followed the rest of his team. Sonic chuckled then looked to Chad as well "but seriously, come by with Anna and the others again sometime. We owe you a crack at the egg too."

"Oh I'm definitely going to hold you to that" he said back, smiling. His expression then turned, looking down puzzled as he rested his chin on his hand, thinking back to the fight with the jackal. "That reminds me, there was something odd mentioned during my fight."

"What did you hear?" Protoman came over to him "we could do with any kind of Intel right now."

"He said…something about another new Game Master out there."

* * *

Across the universe, on one of many planets bearing the name Gaia; Night had fallen on the city of Edge. Nearby were the ruins of the oppressive city known as Midgar, reactors around it that once sapped away at the life-force of the planet; now dormant forever.

The city had done well these past few years, no longer did infections known as Geostigma pop up within people, repairs had been smoothly carried out since the fight against remnants of Sephiroth and the Bahamut they summoned. Even the acts of an organisation known as Deepground had been overcome.

High atop one building however, there was anything but peace and quiet. A one-handed blade clashed again and again against another sword attached to a mechanical arm.

Compared to its human opponent, the machine had the advantage in size; towering over him like a hulking monstrosity in its humanoid form.

Yet the young white skinned male seemingly in early twenties had each swing or stab blocked or deflected aside. It wasn't effortless, he was certainly being careful; but there was a noticeable level of skill in the way the blade flowed with his body's movements.

The machine swung its arm-mounted blade with much heavier force down towards the black short-haired youth, the wind itself seemed to aid the boy; suddenly moving in the direction of the machine providing so much resistance that it slowed the swing down.

This was enough for him to side-step the blade, green eyes looking at the red optics of the machine for but a second as his sword stabbed through its chest.

With a damaged power core, the machine began to attempt one final destructive attack. A compartment opened in its head and a small bomb ejected up into the air. A sphere of energy surrounded it, the bomb detonated; contained harmlessly within the small sphere.

Its final trump card a failure and its power core ruptured, the machine fell backwards onto the roof of this building. The young swordsman stepped back and dusted off his green long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, lightly tapping against the machine's body with his black shoes to make sure there were no more tricks. "Well, that's that." He looked over his shoulder and smiled up at his comrade standing on top of the access doorway to this roof, "Thanks for the cover, Iris."

There with the moon behind her, illuminating her, stood a young white skinned woman, somewhere around the age of nineteen or twenty. Green eyes staring back at him as her long brown hair, gently moving in the breeze, framed her face in a style reminiscent of a hime-cut, a hair clip on either side in the shape of a butterfly. Her blouse was a shade of purple closer to red-violet in tone, the sleeves slightly bunching up at her forearms, the fabric becoming white and wrapping more closely onto the rest of her arms down to the wrists. She hopped down to his level, her long pale lavender skirt just gently flowing with her movements, over it around her waist was a deep pink ribbon tied in a bow.

Walking across the rooftop to him in dark violet boots, she tilted her head to the side a little and smiled at him, speaking teasingly "What would you have done if I wasn't able to stop that explosion in time?"

"Oh I had no doubts in your skills; I know you've got my back." He pulled a cheaply made flip phone out of his pocket, given to him to use for now. He selected a contact and smiled when he heard it answered very quickly "Hey Tifa, looks like we're done here for tonight, only one sentry on the move this time."

"Ah, don't know if I should feel relieved about that or not," the voice of Tifa Lockhart came over the phone. "Desperado must be conserving their firepower for something bigger."

"It would be too hopeful to think they're just running scared wouldn't it?" Iris chirped up in an attempt to be positive.

The swordsman sighed disappointedly "I wish, The Turks managed to get some info and seems if anything this private military company are thrilled there are strong warriors on this world."

Iris clasped her hands behind her back, leaning closer a little as she smiled up at him "Well, Cloud and the others aren't the only ones dealing with popularity problems; imagine when they hear about you fighting that Laughing Coffin group."

"I'd rather they didn't."

Tifa lightly laughed over the phone "Well in any case you two, thanks for doing some recon. Come back home and get some rest, be nice to have us all together for dinner."

"See you soon," he said as he then hung up the call and pocketed the phone again, smiling over at Iris "Ready to head back, Iris?"

She nodded in return "Lead the way, Blue."

Blue Hikrai, another Game Master, moved ahead towards the door to the stairway back into the building. Iris took another look up at the moon and stars, her fingers brushing some hair back and lingering for a moment as they touched her hairclip, then she followed him in.

Neither of the two had seen the witness to everything that went down; Yagami standing on top of another rooftop "Not much longer now. The two game masters will soon encounter each other in this universe."

Like Iris had done, they looked up at the stars. They began to speak as if talking to someone out there, "now then… I guess it's time to work on the third of those you chose." With that, they vanished from this world, leaving no trace of their existence behind.

* * *

 **Author Notes** :

Note 1: Sorry about three months wait for chapter. Some of it was catching up on never-ending list of content out there, but it was mostly work and illness keeping me from devoting the time I wanted.

Note 2: Also sorry about longer chapter. It's not a terrible length but for these early chapters I'd still rather them not be this amount, had a lot to cover this chapter though and not important enough to spread across two chapters.

Note 3: Had forgotten to mention in notes of previous chapters but: Moon Cell is based upon the same construct from the Fate/Extra spin-off series of the Fate/ franchise. It's mostly inspired on concepts raised in Fate/Extella.

Note 4: The jackal mercenary is the character known as Infinite from Sonic Forces, just before he takes on that name and power.

Note 5: Timeline wise for the Sonic world, everything up to and including Sonic Colours has taken place; the only difference is that Eggman didn't get lost in space at the end and so has not yet come across Time Eater. I have my own plans on how to use the plot of Generations and Forces together later down the line.

Note 6: Sara Rhys is sort of own character but mostly an interpretation of a certain RPG series ending and other concepts. I currently can't give any more details without giving spoilers.

Note 7: Barrier Jackets are as mentioned from the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise, A.K.A the series where Magical Girls have Gundam level firepower.

Note 8: Jigen Haō-ryū unlike Wadō-ryū isn't an actual martial arts style. It's based upon the same style from Gundam Build Fighters Try and roughly translates to Dimensional Overlord Style/School. Well not certain on the overlord part. I see Overlord, ruler and King as suggested translations. Either way it's a form of rule. Wadō-ryū while we're at it translates to Harmony Way Style/School

Note 9: Appearance wise, Iris is based upon Iris EXE from the Megaman Battle Network series. She's just older and a different character but still inspired by.

Well that should be it for important details to cover; next chapter shouldn't take as long. I'm hopeful for a faster upload rate once I get past these early set-up chapters, since a good set-up was what the original version of this story extremely lacked.

See you next time.


	6. Chapter 5: Those Who Fight On

**Chapter 5: Those Who Fight On**

England, December 15th 2009. Two weeks before Chad was taken to be a Game Master:

Blue Hikrai had just informed various friends the night before that he'd be dropping out of contact for a little bit until after the holidays. Normally he'd hold out till it was closer, often right up until Christmas Eve itself, but this year he needed to put some more focus into family on the build up.

Well, his Gran anyway. He was well aware he didn't need to put much time in with his parents and that suited him fine. Friends in online communities and various RP partners had all wished him the best, adjusted to his yearly pattern at this point.

Chad of course had just made jokes about how he was being abandoned to deal with the others by himself. Lucy had promised to give him hell for that comment.

 _I mean it's not like I'm the only one, Nijika went back to Japan for a bit,_ Blue thought to himself of another friend of theirs, one they had met during a small martial arts training trip.

Right now he was on his way to see his and Lucy's martial arts master, the bond between student and teacher had long ago become one of close friends, he wanted to make one quick drop in before the holidays.

Except… he came to a stop seeing a lone figure up ahead him on the path he was on. Someone wearing a long black coat with the hood up, masking them from view. Blue sighed as he recognised the coat as being one of the Black Coats from the Kingdom Hearts games, "Chad, is that you?"

No response as the figure just remained standing there. "Seriously man… this Kingdom Hearts obsession is getting out of hand."

He glanced around looking for Lucy, positive some prank was about to be played on him. Then the coat wearing individual began to speak in its distorted voice: "Call me Yagami."

Yagami began to walk towards Blue; a shiver ran down Blue's spine and almost instinctively his stance shifted with his hands raised slightly, ready to move into combat. Every instinct in his body, honed by years of training, was loudly roaring at him that something was wrong here. "Who are you really? And what do you want?"

"I am a remnant," Yagami disappeared. Instinct guided Blue through the confused shock as his fist punched forward only to be caught in the palm of Yagami who re-appeared there. "But perhaps: also a genesis."

Blue's fist pulled back, his right leg already coming up in a roundhouse kick, his foe vanished from existence once more. He kept his stance grounded while looking around for the opponent. "I don't know what kind of dream this is but I'm not interested in letting it play out on terms other than my own."

From behind him: "This is no dream."

Blue spun around, already sweeping his leg with his movements. Yagami stepped back to avoid the attack. Springing forward, more punches came only for Yagami to swerve between them all, continuing to step back.

The assault was kept up until Yagami's back was literally to a wall. Blue dived forward, his fist slamming forward…only to bounce off a barrier of energy sending him backwards and to the floor.

Blue flipped himself back up onto his feet, taking a deep breath as he stared down the cloaked figure. His thoughts trying to recall if he had let his address slip online at any point to get a nut job like this showing up. He was trying to not think about the fact he was sure his fist had hit some kind of energy barrier a second ago. It just wasn't possible.

"You've been trained well," Yagami complimented; taking a step towards him. "Good. That advantage over the other two will serve you well."

"Like I was saying: What do you want?"

Their left hand rose up; palm outstretched towards Blue. "To deliver the first of the Game Masters to that universe, it's time."

The shadows around Yagami began to converge around their hand, slowly spiralling out to engulf Blue. He desperately tried to move back but they encircled him, clouded his vision; slowly his consciousness faded.

Still Blue tried to resist, moving even as he began to slump over. But soon enough he dropped to one knee, then his other and then completely to the pavement. Drifting off to the sound of Yagami's approaching steps.

* * *

"You mean I missed out on all the fun?" The loud, almost obnoxious, male voice was the last thing Blue wanted to hear upon first regaining a sense of consciousness.

"Prometheus, I promise you that you'll be involved in the next acquisition." Hearing Yagami's voice didn't do much better for Blue's state of mind.

"I'm sure there could've been a more pleasant way you could've brought him here." Well at least the soft female voice, distant almost, was much more pleasant for him to hear.

"We don't have the luxury of giving them the option to back out, Pandora."

Blue groaned, accidentally alerting them to his awakening state. He pushed himself onto his knees and slowly rose up; hands balling into fists as he remained at the ready.

The three all stared down at him, Pandora with a look of sympathy, Prometheus with amusement, and Yagami's expression hidden as always. There behind them the gateway's vortex rippled in expectance for the first to be claimed by it.

"I tend to keep getting stuck with the wrong people in dreams and stories," Blue began to complain out loud; staring them down with narrowed eyes. "But don't think I'm going to make this easy."

"I'm very aware of the nature of your 'role', Blue Hikrai." Yagami said back, stepping closer, their head tilted down at the tired youth. "If we were to simplify down to a common connection: Knight would be the term I'd use."

Adrenaline kicking in, training guiding him, Blue pushed through the forcefully induced tiredness and got to his feet; he was swaying slightly but standing nonetheless. "Just because I've wrote a few roles for me as a Magical Knight made to be a killer, don't think I'll play that role for you. I'd rather skip straight to the atonement part and take you down."

Prometheus let out a low whistle, seemingly admiring Blue's bravado, "should let me take a crack at this guy, now this seems like a fun fight." Pandora had immediately turned towards her brother with a glare.

The hooded figure of Yagami strode past the two, chuckling slightly as they approached Blue. "That's not what we're after; all we need is you in place." Their hand began to lift again, stretching out to Blue. "What you do with the role is your choice, your burden. But you will take on that role: a 'knight' or perhaps we should call it: a 'glaive'."

Blue dived forward, not wanting to be forced unconscious again. That didn't happen but nor did he reach Yagami. A shockwave of air burst forth and sent him flying backwards through the gateway.

* * *

There was no up or down, no form of direction, just a sensation of floating. Around him was an infinite void, the only light generated by an ever-present azure aura surrounding him like an outline. Blue was barely aware of his sense of self, of his consciousness. All he knew was a sensation of the darkness surrounding him…almost comfortingly.

" _You don't yet know who we are,"_ the voice was male, middle-aged, speaking to him seriously yet with a sense of kind sympathy.

Another voice, female and middle aged, speaking to him with the same kindness but a sense of nobility to the tone _"But we know you can hear us, and we've been waiting for this day to come."_

Blue tried to answer but with the tiredness and the sensation of this void, no words escaped his lips. The male voice spoke again, echoing around him in this void: _"Safeguard our hopes, hold your head high…and walk tall."_

The female voice again spoke _"The light of The Azure will protect you."_

Blue's eyes closed, the sensation of the void faded away. A new feeling immediately replaced it, the feel of solid ground against his face, grass brushing against his skin.

His eyes opened and he pushed himself up from the grassy plains beneath him, looking around in a tired daze. Other than nearby woods, he could see nothing else of note nearby.

He shifted his position into sitting on the ground, one hand resting at his head; still feeling dazed and even more confused "What kind of dream IS this?"

Dreams of reality being affected or him being pulled into another world weren't exactly new to him. Granted they weren't his most common, but they weren't a strange occurrence either. But none of them had ever been like this…felt this vivid.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes; he needed a minute to think. He needed a moment to digest the sequence of events that had just played out. Focusing his mind, thinking back to small bits of meditation he had done with his master, he began to concentrate.

The sound of metal clashing against metal broke him out of his attempt. Again and again the sounds came from the direction of the forest…and they were getting closer.

An explosive burst of energy blew apart the edge of the forest and a young woman, looking around twenty years of age, soared out of it, landing on the ground and skidding backwards in the mud a bit.

Blue stood up, staring wide-eyed at her, recognising her appearance as Iris. He had written enough alternate versions of her for different stories to recognise her easily at this point.

Iris looked to the edge of the forest she had emerged from, what trees hadn't been obliterated in the blast had toppled or remained in smouldering pieces. Slowly walking out were two armoured humanoids, heads covered by helmets, their armour seemed almost mystical in its design with symbols decorating parts, both were holding swords and surrounded by an aura of energy. "Come now, how long do you think you can keep running?"

Crystallized light in the shape of short blades manifested in her hands, her grip tightened on them as they solidified into two actual daggers, "Forever. I learnt very well from my godfather."

"Whatever that coward taught you won't keep you away. Colonel won't stop coming to find you." Both of the armoured warriors prepared to resume combat, their blades raised as they faced down their lone target. Then the second of them looked to the side.

Iris glanced out of the corner of her eye, following their look…to where Blue was standing, wide-eyed confusion still on his face. "Get out of here right now!"

Too late, the second of the warriors was already stepping in Blue's direction. "We don't need any interfering observers."

Iris herself went to move in the direction of Blue, but the first of the warriors to converse with her dived forward bringing his blade down upon her. Her daggers swung up and entered a deadlock, holding the blade in place but keeping her where she was too.

The continued thoughts of this being a strange dream kept flooding Blue's thoughts, but regardless of that thought; worry at the danger to Iris and the oncoming threat to his own life was quickly overwhelming his senses.

He looked around, there was no weapons he could grab; not even a stick. The armoured warrior began to run towards him, preparing to skewer him.

Blue's feet shifted against the grass and mud beneath him, grounding his stance at the ready. Dream or not, he wasn't going to just take an attack.

It was as if he could feel the strength of his opponent the closer they got. Their killing intent, the power behind their upcoming attack, there would be no dodging this, no surviving this if it hit.

Through his mind, his martial arts master's words echoed: _"Let fighting passion inspire you. The stronger they are, the more intense you become. Visualise the flames within your spirit and know…that there is nothing you can't defeat."_

The blade stabbed forward.

Blue's hands swung forward clapping together.

The sword never stabbed through its target, the warrior stopped in place and stared. "…what?"

Just inches away from stabbing into Blue, the blade was held. The palms of Blue's hands pressed firmly against either side of the steel, barely just keeping it in place.

A mere second of uneasy silence passed, Blue surprised at managing to stop it just in time, at having the strength to hold it in place. The attacker standing there in stunned silence at the reflexes.

Blue stepped back and to the side, pulling at the blade as he did. It was yanked out of the grip of the warrior before he could react, stabbing into the ground behind Blue; his right hand already reaching out and grabbing the hilt, pulling up with a swing.

The warrior jumped back over to his comrade, avoiding the weapon strike. Taking advantage of the surprise of her opponents, Iris released a burst of energy around her; silver in colour. The shockwave pushed her opponent out of the deadlock and she jumped back for distance, landing besides Blue. "I'm sorry you got pulled into this, are you okay?"

Blue nodded, rubbing the shoulder of his right arm for a moment and then held the blade before him, taking a battle-ready stance "I'm fine, Iris."

Her gaze turned directly onto him, wide-eyed and startled, her voice stuttering out "H-how do you?"

A build-up of energy had her attention return to the attackers; one of them had summoned a new sword to their hands. Their swords were aiming up to the sky; pale green energy sparking out unstably around them.

Iris pushed Blue behind her, the daggers disappearing from her hands, a one-handed sword appearing in exchange in her right hand. She lifted her own weapon as green energy surrounded it too; vibrant and stable in comparison to her foes, but growing in intensity.

All three called out at the same time "Screen Divide!" The swords swung forward and three waves of green energy carved a path across the ground. Two towards Iris and hers towards the two attackers, both sides crashed against each other. The ground ripped apart underneath the power, the shockwave of air forcing Blue down to his knees as he tried to withstand the overwhelming clash of power.

Through the energy and dust, one warrior dived out from the right stabbing towards Iris. She, already anticipating this attempt from them, had swung her sword and caught the attack in time; deflecting the blade to the side.

The other warrior dived through from the other side, sword coming down at her. She just barely called up a barrier of silver energy in time to block the attack.

The attacker from her right came at her again, Blue stood up and blocked with the stolen sword, feeling his knees beginning to buckle already.

Steel grinded against steel as Blue tried to hold his ground, Iris's barrier began to spark and waver, energy crackling around her as the attacker's blade kept pushing harder and harder upon the energy.

Blue and Iris tried to focus, tried to regain an advantage while protecting the other. The pressure of the attacks was too overwhelming, the sounds breaking their focus; especially with the roaring sound of a motorcycle growing closer.

Both slowly turned their heads a little to the road on that last realisation, witnessing a black motorcycle coming down the road, turning off of it onto the plains… coming in their direction.

The armoured warriors released their pressure on Blue and Iris, hopping back and aiming free hands towards the bike, sparks of energy coursing across their fingers.

Whatever attack they were preparing never got a chance to happen, the bike sharply turned to the side; skidding towards them. The blonde male atop it jumped off towards them. As he did; a compartment near the front axle opened up and a large sword ejected into the air.

Grabbing the hilt in mid-air with his black gloved hands, the young man's momentum brought him crashing down towards them; swinging the blade down.

They moved back far too late, the ground burst up under them from the sheer impact of the weapon, knocking them off-balance.

He spun his body around, swinging the blade with his movements and slammed it against them. They were launched backwards and crashed into the ground, armour cracking and breaking apart.

Blue stood besides Iris, staring in surprise but awe at the sight of a familiar blonde swordsman garbed in black. "Oh my god…that's Cloud Strife."

Cloud Strife walked up in their direction, blue eyes with an unnatural glow looked over them; studying their appearance "You alright?"

Blue just weakly nodded, Iris nodded as well but spoke up "I appreciate the help but no one should be involving themselves in danger like this."

Cloud continued walking past them, towards the armoured warriors getting back to their feet. "It's no big deal, just what I always do." He stopped and held the Fusion Sword at the ready, looking at the armoured warriors "You don't look like those Laughing Coffin creeps that have been hanging about." His eyes narrowed at them. "Well, doesn't matter. You'll get no further."

Confidence in victory no longer mattered to the two warriors now, their posture had noticeably become much more aggressive compared to the refined control they had in combat mere moments earlier. "You get one opportunity to lea-"

"-Not interested."

All they needed to hear, dashing towards him and striking towards him. It didn't matter the size of Cloud's blade, he swung in return with speed to match theirs.

Again and again the combatants clashed, Cloud weaving in-between their slashes, blocking when needed. Just when they thought they had a clear shot, a segment of the Fusion Blade separated into a separate sword.

Now dual wielding, Cloud had the two completely outmatched. Despite their skill with a blade, despite being two different minds…there were no openings to get through.

They tried to move back to gain distance, Cloud didn't give them the option. His Blade Beam Limit Break burst away from his swords, blue energy carving through the ground until it broke into their armour.

Cloud didn't give them any further chances. Before they could react, he was behind them; they fell to the ground cut down by him.

He looked down at the fallen foes; sighing as he watched their corpses fade away into particles of light. He combined his blades into their fully assembled form once more and then made his way over to Blue and Iris. "You're safe now. You're pretty far out without any transportation?"

Releasing her grip on her weapon, Iris let it return to crystallized light, quickly breaking apart into particles that disappeared. Her eyes still looked alert as they glanced at Blue, but she smiled kindly at Cloud as she said in reply, "Unfortunately wasn't part of my plans, I'm travelling and a few-" she paused as she looked over to where the bodies once were, "-issues came up."

Both turned to look at Blue, his gaze was focused on Cloud; still in awe as he noticeably pinched himself when he realised they were waiting for him to speak. "I'm-" his hands slightly reached out in front of him as if grasping for the words "-complicated."

"I know that experience," Cloud dryly replied, sheathing his sword into a harness on the back of his outfit. "Given the situation, I think we could do with un-complicating things though. Let's start with names." He gave his own kind smile to them as he spoke "Cloud Strife."

"My name is Iris… Maxwell."

That had Blue's eyes studying Iris again. In all of his stories as well as those Chad, Richard and Lucy had done; Iris had either went without a surname or since she usually was wrote as a sister to Chad's self-insert, she'd share his surname. Maxwell was a difference that he was not expecting.

He noticed they were both looking to him again, Iris looking more cautious at Blue's repeated focus on her. He tried to put his best reassuring smile for both of them "I'm Blue Hikrai."

"Do you mean Hikari?" Iris questioned.

"I get that a lot but no, it's Hikrai." His surname being close to Hikari was actually why he had chosen to use that surname a lot for his self-inserts, to the point he had made himself part of the Hikari family for stories involving the Megaman Battle Network series. His first name was of course usually the more questioned aspect of his name by people, with it being just simply a colour.

Iris still seemed to be looking at Blue, studying him herself, trying to figure something out. Cloud interrupted the uneasy tension as he motioned over to the spot where the bodies had been. "So they seemed different to what we've been seeing lately, mind filling me in."

Her left hand held onto her right arm hanging at her side as she averted her eyes, "I can explain a little but could we get to civilisation first?" She glanced in Blue's direction for a moment "I have some things I need to ask as well."

Taking one look around for any possible warps but seeing nothing, Blue sighed as he was starting to quickly adjust to the reality of his predicament. "I could do with checking about some things too." _This isn't a dream, what the hell has my life become?_

Cloud looked over to his bike, looked at the two…looked to his bike again. He sighed and pulled out a flip phone, opening it up and calling a contact. "Hey, it's me. I could do with some extra transportation." He sighed again in response to someone's answer, "I didn't get into a crash. The bike is fine. I've picked up some people though."

* * *

It had taken roughly thirty minutes for a truck to get to them. Thirty minutes of silence as Blue kept to himself trying to go over everything in his mind, trying to find a rational explanation for everything that was going on. Iris would keep glancing at him from time to time. Cloud seemed the only one calm with the silence, just keeping watch from besides his bike.

The truck had been driven by Barret Wallace, a friend of Cloud's, who had returned from his continued search for more fuel resources so he could spend some time with his daughter: Marlene.

A little over thirty minutes of more awkward silence on the drive back, Cloud following on his bike, and they arrived at the city of Edge.

The truck had pulled up to a building that served as the home for Cloud, his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart, an orphan they had taken in by the name of Denzel, Marlene when Barret was away, and as of recently a former experimental soldier by the name of Shelke Rui.

Other than the home part of this building, it also existed as a bar known as Seventh Heaven.

Currently there were no customers and they had closed early, Blue wasn't sure if it was a slow day or if they had decided to close due to the current situation.

At this moment he sat at one of the tables in the bar area, Iris sitting on the opposite side. Cloud stood leaning back against the bar; arms crossed.

Besides him, sitting on a stool at the bar was Tifa Lockhart; looking over the two guests with concern.

Finally, sitting at another table and staring intently; as if analysing the two, was the young woman stuck in the body of a young girl: Shelke Rui. Given the experiments she was part of her and her training, Blue had to assume she really was analyzing them in some way.

"So-" Tifa spoke up gently, "-Cloud tells me the ones chasing you had some fairly strange armour. Also taking into account the usage of magic without materia, we can guess that the two of you and them are from another world."

Blue wanted to let the conversation continue, but that comment had him wanting to address it immediately. "You know of other worlds?" It wasn't something he was expecting to hear from this world of all places.

"We've had some interactions with leaders and warriors from elsewhere, not much though," Cloud said back. "We'd like to not deal with new problems, so anything you can tell us about them would be great."

"I admittedly only just got here; I'm just as confused as you."

At that comment; all attention turned to Iris who took a deep breath before beginning to speak. "They were soldiers; they work for a group known as Spiriforce. They're a military force that has been getting involved in conflicts across the universe involving spirits or summons or beings like those."

"So where do you come into this?" Tifa questioned.

Iris paused for but a moment and then gave her answer, "…I'm an adventurer who just had the unfortunate luck of getting in their way. Those two didn't get enough time to alert others about this world though, so there shouldn't be any further problems."

Her gaze shifted back to Blue, she tensed up warily as she spoke, "assuming he can be trusted."

Blue looked back at her, a little hurt. He understood that she wasn't the character he and his friends had written about…but to have any version of her wary of him wasn't a great feeling. "What exactly did I do?" he said defensively.

"You said my name… before I even gave it."

"Ah…that."

Blue shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling the gaze of everyone on him. How was he supposed to explain this? He thought back to some of the words Yagami had mentioned and decided he'd just have to hope for the best at this point, he was thrown in way too deep to get out now. "I come from a world really far from this one. I think it would be accurate to say a different universe."

They seemed content to let him continue explaining, Iris's posture had straightened more though at his mention of a different universe. "I was taken captive by this person in a black coat and thrown through a gateway. They said something about a Game Master. In my universe, places like this are kind of-" he hesitated not sure how to word this "-well…stories."

Committed to this now he went fully in on admitting the truth as he motioned over to Iris "Someone similar to you is a character my friends and I would write about."

Silence fell over the room.

 _Oh I don't like this,_ Blue's thoughts began to run wild coming up with every possible bad scenario that could result from this

"Okay that helps explain a lot," Tifa simply said.

Blue sat more upright, turning to look over at her; staring incredulously as he spoke: "It does?"

"A Game Master is one of the off-worlders we've met before," Cloud began to explain. "We have at least a basic understanding."

"Sounds like you know more than what I have to go on."

Shelke at last spoke up, "I have acquired samples of data about the Game Master: Kevin Keene among other associated data. We can go over it with you later." She had gotten a lot better at speaking with more emotion since joining up with this group, but the old habits would occasionally still slip through such as now.

"Thank you," Blue said and then turned to look back at Iris. She may have been a different person but it was still as far as his mind was concerned: Iris. Her opinion was what he was worried to hear.

Iris, to his relief, smiled softly. "I'm willing to believe you're not affiliated with them. I too have some familiarity with the idea of a Game Master and this other universe." A small sigh escaped her lips at the end. Blue couldn't be sure but it seemed to him like she was saddened by something. Disappointed that there wasn't more information he could give, maybe?

In the end, Tifa offered the two of them to stay as long as they needed to. Iris accepted; thanking them while informing that she had plans to move on as soon as she could.

Blue of course also accepted. He wasn't going to turn down kindness like that from Tifa and Cloud of all people… and of course there was the more pressing matter of that there wasn't much else he could do right now.

With help from Shelke, Blue was informed of what little they knew of the nature of a Game Master. A champion summoned from another universe, utilising their knowledge of 'fiction' to combat dark threats across the worlds.

It unnerved Blue to think about how he had been brought here though. To be chosen for a role like this… but to be thrown in by a mysterious and shady group.

 _From what that Yagami said, they're content to let me do as I please. So what's their agenda? What do they get out of this?_

Those thoughts continued to plague him throughout the conversation, more so than even the suspicious timing of encountering a real version of Iris immediately upon arrival.

Dinner was later made for the residents of the home and their guests. Blue ate a little but ended up excusing himself early, apologising for the lack of appetite. It didn't help that he kept spotting Cloud and Tifa looking at him as though they were looking at someone else. A look in their eyes as though they were dwelling on nostalgic memories.

The one available guest room had been set up for their use; Tifa had offered to re-arrange who sleeps in what room if either Blue or Iris felt uncomfortable about being in the same room.

Iris seemed to have no issues and so Blue agreed as well; despite how much his mind was struggling to adapt to any of this.

* * *

Sleep did not come easy for him; he wasn't sure how long he had lay there on his single bed, trying to keep his back to the direction of the other single bed; even before Iris had entered the room.

His mind overwhelmed with the reality of his situation: Abducted and thrown into what should've been fiction. And each time he thought he was starting to rationalise it, his thoughts would then wander to the world and life, the friends and family that he had been taken from.

It was like a permanent feeling of butterflies in his stomach, he really wished he could just throw up or something. Just to feel some kind of reaction.

Eventually he had drifted off, only to wake up what seemed like only a few hours later in a cold sweat, panicking as he looked around the room at the unfamiliar environment.

Blue sat there, a hand to his face as he slowly steadied his breathing; mumbling to himself for comfort, "Right… of course, the Final Fantasy Seven world."

He took a look around the darkened room, the curtains still open letting in a small amount of moonlight. Iris was not here.

He sighed and shifted himself, moving shakily to his feet. "I need air."

Quietly leaving the room, being careful to not wake anyone; he moved to a stairway leading up to the roof and cautiously made his way up step by step.

The cool night air was refreshing the moment he stepped out into it, closing the door gently behind him. Faintly he could still hear the sounds of people in the city; night-shift workers, people enjoying the night-life or even just those like Blue that just couldn't sleep easily.

But closer, on this very roof; he heard Iris's voice quietly and softly singing, "There is comfort in the darkest night, even if there is no star in sight."

Blue turned slowly to look for her, spotting her sitting on the edge of the roof; leaning back against a portion of a wall as she gazed up at the night sky. "Every time I close my eyes it's all I see, I am haunted by a timeless memory."

He stayed where he was standing; just watching and listening, transfixed by her voice. "And no matter what I do or where I roam, I will still be dreaming my way home." Her hand gently brushed against one of the butterfly hair clips as she mentioned 'home'.

A slight smile came to Blue's lips as he heard the emotion she was pouring into her words. So that was it then. _You have a home you want to see again too._ She may have been different from the canon character of Iris EXE; she may even be different in ways from the Iris he and his friends had written of…but for a moment Blue felt a much needed sense of familiarity.

"Time froze but I kept moving on," Iris trailed off and turned her head, silently looking over to where Blue stood.

Blue nervously rubbed at the back of his neck, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other "Oh, sorry. I came up here for some air and…well I didn't want to interrupt."

To his surprise, she smiled calmly over at him "Don't worry about it; you're welcome to join me."

Blue hesitated but then slowly walked over, sitting down himself opposite her. It wasn't a question he really wanted to ask, worried of the potential answer, but he still needed to: "You're handling talking to me pretty well considering what I said about you and this universe a couple of hours ago."

She had returned to looking up at the night sky, a short quiet laugh came from her as her eyes and smile showed amusement. "It's because you said it that I can talk to you. You didn't try to deceive me. That and as I said: I have some knowledge of your world."

She looked down, studying his face as her smile softened further "How are you holding up?"

"Well to continue the honesty: I'm not."

"I understand."

Blue believed she did too; the sympathy in her eyes was genuine. They were strangers but she clearly held a lot of care in her heart for people. "I forgot to say-" she started, making him focus on her again, "-sorry again for you getting attacked, but thank you for having my back."

Blue smiled back at her, "any time."

Again amusement returned to Iris's face as she tried to help lighten the mood and ease Blue's mind, turning to teasing him now. "Your surname was one thing but knowing what I know about your world; Blue is quite the strange name."

It worked, Blue quietly laughed as he enjoyed her teasing, "Yeah, I get that a lot too." He looked out over the city while he continued to speak, "But you should see my friend: Lucy; natural pink hair and red eyes, now she definitely stands out back home."

With his sights on the city, Blue was left unaware to the change in Iris's expression: her eyes widening and mouth opening further; only just able to stifle a gasp.

"Y…You're right," Iris said, voice breaking for but a moment, "that is strange for your world. Are you worried about them?"

Blue nodded, sighing as he leant back a little and kept looking out over the city of Edge. "Yeah, likely be a while before some of them even realise I'm gone. I can only hope my friends will support each other through it, Lucy and Chad especially let things get to them."

Iris mouthed Chad's name; her fingers once again brushing against one of her hairclips fondly. Small traces of tears began to form at her eyes, while despite a quivering lip she smiled in relief.

Her hand moved to wipe at her face, brushing the traces of tears aside before Blue turned to look at her.

He hadn't seen the shifting expressions, but the silence had been enough to make him wonder about her, "everything okay?"

Iris nodded, smiling more warmly than she had before, "this talk of friendship and family just has me dwelling on old memories. I'm sure they're all going to be okay, and so will you."

She stood up; dusting herself off, "Well I think I'm ready to try and get some sleep again, how about you?"

"Think I'll just try and adjust for a while longer." Iris nodded in understanding and began to walk towards the door, stopping when Blue called out to her "Iris… thanks for talking with me."

"Thank you for the same reason."

* * *

The two had spoken for at least another hour before finally feeling drained enough to sleep, heading back and crashing for the night.

By the morning, they had joined Tifa, Cloud and the others for breakfast; helping out where they could, insisting upon doing their part despite being told they could just rest.

Afterwards: Iris had requested a small sparring session with Cloud. For how brief his handling of Spiriforce had been; she was still impressed by his skill with a sword.

She wanted a training match to help keep her skill level maintained and see if there were any improvements she could fit in. Cloud accepted. It continued to surprise Blue just how accepting he and Tifa had been with them.

Blue was given the offer to watch but he declined. It's not like he hadn't already thought about this kind of matter. If he was to be stuck here then he should take the opportunity to further his fighting capabilities; observing their training and then slowly learning would be his best bet.

But that would also be accepting this. He had no intention of just sitting around wasting his life, but there was no imminent danger. He knew it would be for the best to take some adjustment first.

He was more than willing to help out in whatever ways he could though. This had led to him now exploring the immediate area of the city close to the bar.

He had offered to help Tifa with some errands, being given a map of the city so he could find his way.

It had been a while since he had been to a city but even cities back home hadn't prepared him for just how surreal it was to be in a place like Edge.

A city and world he had only seen in fiction here around him, the hustle and bustle of people going about their day. The sight of a repaired monument of the day Meteor almost fell upon the planet.

"Didn't realise Lockhart had someone other then the blonde to run errands for her," said the last person Blue had to speak to on this errand run. It had mostly been handing money over to people, payment of bills and such.

Blue gave a friendly smile in return at the man. "I'm just a new friend doing his best to repay kindness."

"Swear I've seen you before, you ever do work in Midgar back in the day?"

Blue shook his head, "Sorry, you must have me confused for someone else." His body involuntarily shivered, the hairs on his neck and arms standing on end as he turned for a moment to look behind. Nothing was standing out, just the continued movement of ordinary people going about their day.

 _What was that feeling? Like someone was watching me?_

"You look pale, everything okay?"

Blue turned his attention back and slowly nodded "Just a little worked up, it's fine."

"Ya should get a drink when you get back to that bar; you look like you need it."

In the corner of his vision, Blue was sure he saw something dart into an alleyway. The most he could make out in the brief moment was a tattered black cloak of some sort. The fight-or-flight reaction of feeling like he was being observed faded away.

But this instead just made him feel uneasy; if the pressure in the air faded at that figure slipping away…then he WAS being watched.

 _Was that…killing intent?_

He finished up with the man, thanked him and went on his way; retracing his steps with the help of the map back in the direction of Seventh Heaven.

Every time he passed by an alleyway, his steps would speed up; a sense of trepidation overwhelming him. He'd just lightly laugh and feel like he was being stupid when he'd pass by with no problems.

The closer he got to Seventh Heaven, the more he began to feel like he was just over thinking things. _It's just your training and being in a different reality like this. You know this game, Blue. Edge is safe. Every big danger was taken care of. Really, the only danger is suffocating on that metallic smell in the air._

A new alleyway, he forced himself to keep calm. He was not going to let paranoia work him up; he kept his pace steady and normal.

Step by step he made his way to the entrance of the alleyway; he was beginning to wonder what kind of construction work was going on here because the scent was getting stronger.

He stepped out into the open space besides the entrance of the alley and his nose was hit immediately with a smell like copper, a vile and putrid pungence came with it.

The corner of his eye caught it in his vision; his feet came to an immediate stop. There were two figures in the alleyway and one on the floor… Around the body was a pool of blood.

Blue slowly turned, looking into the alley to see two humans covered in hooded tattered ponchos, not cloaks like he had first thought.…they were standing over a corpse. One poncho was black, the other a dark brown.

Now very aware of the source of the scent, it overwhelmed his senses even more; nausea bringing him to the verge of vomiting as he looked at the blood pooling around the corpse of an innocent male. From this angle with the two standing over it; he couldn't make out the state of the corpse other than a few cuts in the clothing and skin.

"Boring… You didn't give him chance to scream, Xaxa" one of the two attackers spoke, a male voice, already giggling with sadistic glee as he knelt down besides the body "I know you enjoy seeing their fear too, what gives?"

"We're here to watch, Johnny." The one named as Xaxa replied back, also male; his voice much colder and serious. "We're supposed to be restrained when in Edge until the time is right, you should've been making sure no one walked in on us."

The first one now identified as Johnny just snickered as he poked a dagger at the corpse, stabbing it into the flesh. "Recon work is SO boring though."

Blue involuntarily gasped, taking a step back as he saw the killers bodies stiffen up. Xaxa turned first, beneath his hood there was a mask covering the upper half of his face; designed like the upper half of a skull. The most noteworthy part of the mask was its crimson eyepieces staring at him from under the darkness of the black hood.

Johnny stood up and turned; spinning the dagger in his hands. Underneath his brown hood was a mask that looked like more of a sack with eyeholes cut out for it. "Wellllll, now we can have some fun."

The shock was overwhelming but survival instincts were already kicking in, Blue's stance shifting so he was ready for any sudden movements "…you killed him."

Xaxa smirked, lifting his right arm up to show his forearm. A large tattoo stood out even from the distance between them. A coffin with the lid partly slid off, what looked like a face upon it; smiling widely to the point that it was about to burst into laughter.

Blue's thoughts went back to the day before, to the words he had heard Cloud say to the members of Spiriforce. He himself spoke them aloud: "Laughing Coffin."

Xaxa lowered his arm, "Good, you have already heard of us…Blue Hikrai." The deathly cold tone of his voice shifted into a slight amount of sadistic delight as he spoke Blue's name, nowhere near the amount of glee of his comrade's voice though.

"How do you-"

Johnny happily jumped at the chance to explain, "We're being paid really well to come to this dump of a world, all for you. Try to make this fun for us, Game Master. I want you to die fearing the name: Johnny Black."

Xaxa looked over at Johnny, "PoH gave strict orders. He will be the one to kill the Game Master, this show is his."

"Then I'll just scratch him up a little!"

Before Blue or even Xaxa could protest, Johnny broke into a sprint towards the newly summoned Game Master.

Blue's hand pulled back into a fist, no choice but to fight for his life once again.

He didn't have to. A large sized shuriken spun through the air past him from behind, Johnny batted it away with his dagger and it flew back past Blue.

Blue dared not turn around, not wanting to take his eyes off Laughing Coffin, hoping that whoever was behind him was on his side.

Three new people walked up past Blue and stood in front of him. A white skinned man with red hair and goggles on his head, a brown skinned bald man with a goatee and also wearing sunglasses, and finally a young white skinned woman with shoulder length wavy red hair; she was the one holding the shuriken. All three were wearing similar black suits except the red haired man's was left in a more messy state than the other two though.

The red haired male: Reno of a group once known as the Turks stepped forward, holding an electro stun rod over one shoulder as he grinned at Johnny "And what are we up to?"

Johnny's posture kept hunched over slightly, keeping his dagger at the ready, Xaxa behind him had pulled out an Estoc. Johnny laughed but spoke rather venomously towards the arrivals "Hey, 'bud'…why don't you stay out of this?"

"Hey 'bud'," Reno said back. "Why don't you take the sack off your head and shove it in your mouth?"

The red haired woman, Cissnei, sighed as she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Reno, do you really need to do this banter with your 'bud'?"

"Oh, he wishes he was my bud."

Johnny took what he thought was a moment of weakness to dart forward towards Reno, only for the final member of the group: Rude to step in front of Reno and slam his fist against Johnny's face.

The murderer stumbled back, and then took a larger stride before flipping backwards and landing besides Xaxa.

Rude re-adjusted his sunglasses and glanced over to his previously bantering partner, speaking bluntly, "Reno, focus.

"Yeah, yeah," Reno said back, taking a step closer to the members of laughing coffin. "Yo, been keeping an eye on you guys showing up, getting bold showing up right here in Edge."

Xaxa took over the conversation, "We know all about you. You are few, scraps of a fallen company. There are many of us. When we come in force, do you think you'll withstand it?"

Reno rolled his eyes, a cocky grin still plastered over his face as he pointed his stun rod at the two. "Please; you just have killing as a hobby, as for us?"

Rude finished the point for his partner. "It was our jobs," still blunt and simply compared to his partner's mannerisms.

Xaxa smirked, the red eyes of his mask staring past them and to Blue. It felt like they were piercing right through him, like he was being marked for death by the gaze alone. "Be seeing you, Hikrai."

Xaxa's free hand opened up, grey magic energy of some sort burst around the palm and smoke billowed out; quickly filling the area around them.

For a moment the silhouettes of the two killers could be seen slipping back, further into the smoke. "Damn it," Reno began to run into the smoke. "Rude, after them! Cissnei, you take him back."

Rude and Reno both disappeared into the smoke, trying to chase after the fleeing members of Laughing Coffin.

Cissnei slowly walked up to the game master, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings. As for Blue, he was standing there just staring at the spot where the body lie.

The smoke slowly began to clear revealing the assailants and their pursuers were gone, leaving just Blue, Cissnei and the body.

Blue continued to remain rooted in spot, transfixed by the corpse and its stab wounds. He still felt like throwing up but he wasn't sure he could even muster the energy to.

He hesitantly took a closer look, seeing for a brief second the noticeable cut across the neck.

He immediately turned away, moving over to a wall and threw up.

"We should get you back to Seventh Heaven," Cissnei spoke; her voice warm and sympathetic as she walked up to him. "This isn't something you should be dealing with."

Blue looked at his own hands, trembling along with his entire body. It wasn't just the sight and smell of this body that was getting to him. It was the knowledge that he could've ended up in that same fate right here and now. But more than that:

"It's my fault," Blue finally managed to say.

"You can't do this to yourself."

"They said they're here for me." His hands shook even more, this fact overwhelming all attempts to keep calm. "Anyone they kill…it's on me."

Cissnei placed her hands on Blue's shoulders, beginning to manoeuvre him out of the alley.

"What about… the body?"

"Tseng and Elena are on the way, they'll handle it from here."

* * *

Finally returned to Seventh Heaven, Blue sat there with a blanket over his shoulders; simply staring into the distance barely listening to the conversation.

A cup sat on the table in front of him, untouched so far. Iris sat besides him, looking at him with concern. She, like the others had tried to assure him it wasn't his fault, and that they could understand what it's like to come across death like this.

He appreciated the help, he really did…but it did little to set his mind at ease.

"We've yet to figure out where they're hiding out" Cissnei admitted, standing in the middle of the room with her arms crossed as she conversed with primarily Cloud, Tifa and Barret. "This is the first time they've actually come into Edge, or at least…first we're aware of."

"I've come across a few during my deliveries," Cloud said. "They're fairly well trained; don't seem to fear death either."

"They will when I'm through with them" Barret threw in gruffly, his metal hand raised in a fist. "They're messing wit' the wrong people and world."

Cloud nodded in agreement, glancing back at Cissnei with a slightly concerned expression as he looked at the suit she wore, "Are you sure about returning to this? You were living a life of peace."

Cissnei's lips curved into a sad smile as she looked back at Cloud, "With no more Shinra, we of the Turks can do a lot more to help people now." She looked down at the ground for a moment. "Maybe even get to them in time."

She looked over to Blue, "Besides," her smile softened as she looked at Blue in a way similar to how Cloud and Tifa had the previous day…as though dwelling on nostalgic memories. "We all have our own investment in this."

"Then we're all agreed," Tifa looked to the group. "We find out where they're hiding and we take them out, keep anyone else from dying and protect the game master."

"I'm fighting too."

All in the room turned to focus on Blue, the shaking of his hands slowing as they clenched into fists. His distant gaze turned to a look of determination, meeting the vision of the others. "I can't just sit here and watch others in danger because of me."

"Blue, these are all cold-blooded murderers." Iris tried to explain, to make him think on it more. "This is too much for you starting out."

He shook his head and stood up, shrugging the blanket off his shoulders. "They're here to kill me, to kill what I've been summoned here for: A warrior known as a Game Master" He looked at his right fist, tightening his grip further "So we'll give them that fight."

Barret nodded in understanding, putting his normal hand on Blue's shoulder. "You're going to need to get stronger, this is a difficult fight."

Blue smiled and nodded himself "which is why I'd like to ask for training. Please, help me."

Tifa smiled in support of his choice and stepped closer, "I'd be happy to spar with you and help you learn more fighting."

Cloud stepped closer to the gathering group too, smiling warmly as well. "Alright, I guess I can appreciate what it's like to be thrown in over your head."

Blue smiled gratefully. Despite the situation, despite the reason, he couldn't help but feel some excitement in the idea of fighting alongside them. "I know it's going to be dangerous, but this is what I'm going to be in for no matter what. I guess it's like you've all said: There's no getting off this train I'm on until the end of the line."

"Damn right," Barret replied, grinning. It was probably pride at his saying catching on.

Another stepped up besides Blue, joining the gathered group. Blue's jaw slightly dropped as Iris stepped up and smiled. "Guess you can count me in too."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy but…what happened to leaving this world as soon as you could?"

"I wouldn't mind getting to experience this feeling of camaraderie again. Besides, I think it's more than coincidence that you were sent right to where I was."

The game master smiled happily at her, feeling as relieved as he did when they spoke the night before, "Thank you, Iris."

All outstretched their hands, placing them over one another. Cloud smiled at them all, "Okay then; for our friends old and new, for the safety of this planet. We'll fight once again, let's mosey."

"You're ruining it," Barret spoke with an audible groan.

* * *

On the northern continent of this world, there existed a large crater. A crater formed from the impact of an extra-terrestrial threat crashing upon the planet: The Calamity from the skies: Jenova.

The deeper one traversed into the depths of this crater, they would find a gaping chasm, a wound in the surface of the planet leading below its surface and into the core of the planet itself.

There amidst platforms of rock, stone and dirt, the lifestream flowed. The very life force of this planet flowing as many separate strands of green-white energy; moving almost like fluid as they intertwined and coursed throughout the cave system and across the entire planet.

Much of its power concentrated at this crater, still trying to repair the wound thousands of years on.

Floating ever so slightly above one of the suspended in air platforms was a radiantly beautiful woman appearing like she was in her late thirties or early forties. Long blonde hair flowing down her back, her outfit an ornate set of gold and white decorated armour giving the visage of some kind of Valkyrie, in one hand was a large shield and in the other a staff. This was Minerva, a physical embodiment of the life stream itself, less of an actual being and more of a representation of the will of the planet itself. Her eyes, which were filled with the glow of mako energy like Cloud's, looked ahead at a recent arrival to this chamber.

Sitting atop a large chunk of stone with one leg crossed over the other was a pale light skinned woman appearing to be in her mid twenties. She smiled at Minerva, deep blue eyes looking at her surroundings. Her face framed by long silver hair coming down over the front of her shoulders. Her clothing in contrast to the armour of Minerva was simpler; a black vest with a long white coat over it, the sleeves rolled halfway up her arm. A pink ruffled ascot; a pale green gem in the centre of it, pale olive green capris, and black boots coming up to the middle of her shins.

She clapped her hands together; clad in white gloves, and her smile grew wider. "So sorry to just drop in without warning, Minerva," she spoke casually but sincerely and with the same voice that would within the next few weeks contact the palace of power through the power glove.

Minerva seemed unfazed by the presence of this woman, the planet accepting this guest. "It has been many years since we have last interacted," she replied in a detached tone of voice. "Do you still identify by another name since your ascension?"

"Enna Kros" the silver haired woman said back, with a cock of her head to the side, as she hopped off the stone debris and stood upon the platform. "I'm surprised you remember. You're not the type of spirit to usually invest in personal details."

"What brings you here?"

Well that definitely proved Minerva was more interested in getting to business than continuing any level of personal conversation, this didn't seem to bother Enna though. "Well, you may be aware of a very recent dimensional disturbance."

"Yes, an arrival from outside this universe. I sense fragments of the Azure."

Enna nodded; satisfied that Minerva was keeping up with things. She held one finger up and continued "I need you to not react defensively if that power starts showing."

Minerva's expression soured slightly, looking down on Enna warily. "The Azure has already held an effect upon this world, one I do not wish to see increased."

"I know… which is why you shouldn't reject the presence of a Game Master, Someone who can call upon that power correctly." Enna crossed her arms, still looking cheerful and calm about the entire conversation. To any normal being with emotions it probably would've set them at ease to see the sincerity in her eyes. Minerva was not an ordinary being though.

"You have bias in this. You work alongside that Yagami," she stated matter-of-factly. "But I trust you, the spirit kind you once were; have always served as protectors."

Enna clasped her hands together, cheerfully giving a small bow to the embodiment of this planet's life. "But on that note, there hasn't been any resurgence has there?"

"Life remains pure of malevolence; the spawn of the star's calamity still lies dormant."

Enna turned away, beginning to walk "Stay vigilant. War is coming; The Umbral Star knows of the Game Masters." Despite the warning, she lightly giggled, "they're going to be pretty mad~"

The one called Enna Kros vanished into light, leaving the manifestation alone as she looked upon her very essence coursing around the chamber. She turned her senses to flow throughout the planet.

The lifestream flowed as it should, no lingering presences could be felt. She knew it was there, she knew traces of Jenova and Sephiroth still existed. But for now they were still scattered, dormant; unable to be erased but unable to cause further harm.

Within her memories, she saw it again. A yellow comet of some sort traversing space, a meteor separating from it and crashing upon her surface, the pain as it created a great wound in the northern continent by the arrival of Jenova. The damage to the planet's very life as a power began to slowly seep in and corrupt it.

Her memories focused upon the comet: the Umbral Star. If Enna was right, if an all out war across the stars would soon begin…

Then Minerva supposed she could afford to place her trust in the Game Masters, to watch a one-sided invasion finally face retaliation.

She faded away into the lifestream itself, rejoining the whole.

The planet continued on healing and living, once more placing its faith in warriors fighting to protect it.

* * *

 **Author Notes:**

Note 1: Xaxa, Johnny Black and Laughing Coffin itself are based upon the same characters from Sword Art Online. Obviously not the same characters but strongly based upon them.

Note 2: Spiriforce is own creation but is also strongly inspired by a group from the Megaman X series. No prizes for guessing the obvious inspiration.

Note 3: The song Iris was singing is: Dreaming My Way Home, the ending credits song for Rogue Galaxy. Also plays in the ending for its 6th chapter which is one big Cowboy Bebop inspired moment and definitely one of many favourite scenes in the game.

Note 4: Cissnei is from Crisis Core and Shelke Rui is from Dirge of Cerberus. I know FF7 is well known but not everyone took to the extra games in the compilation so felt like it doesn't hurt to mention. Minerva is also from Crisis Core.

Note 5: Enna Kros is from World of Final Fantasy.

Well, next chapter might end this flashback and we'll return to present, or it could take the next two chapters. We'll see how things progress as I write them. See you next time.


	7. Chapter 6: Lurking in the Darkness

**Chapter 6: Lurking In The Darkness**

Early morning sparring certainly wouldn't be on the agenda for most people, however Blue couldn't deny that it was just the surge of adrenaline needed to quickly wake up.

Tifa's fist, clad in a soft glove suitable for training, jabbed forward at him faster than any punch thrown at him in sparring sessions back home. This time he barely managed to deflect her arm to the side with an open palm slapping against her wrist while his body stepped to the side.

His punch, also clad in a soft glove, came back at her in return but she was already out of its way, her body pivoting as one leg lifted up high and came down as an axe kick.

Both of his arms braced themselves, crossing over above him; shielding his body from the blow. His arms pushed her leg up and he stepped forward to swing his own foot towards her.

She used the momentum of him pushing her back to simply flip backwards over his kick. Blue had kept his own momentum going, letting his body spin with the swing of his foot. The moment it had missed it was already swiftly descending. As that foot touched down, his other foot swung low at hers as they came down upon the mat.

He didn't manage to trip her, although she did stumble on her attempt to move away from it. It was enough for Blue to dart forward, returning upright; his fist jabbed forward at a speed even surprising himself.

Tifa redirected her stumble into an intentional fall, her hands grabbing Blue's arm as it passed by, pulling him into a throw over her. He landed hard on his back on the mat.

Tifa held him there for a moment, kneeling besides him; both breathing out and sweaty from the physical exertion. She let go and smiled down at him, "So, that's three to me. Shall we call it there?"

Blue breathed out some more then relaxed into the mat as he smiled up at her, "Yeah, I guess so. Almost thought I had you there."

Tifa sat down nearby, taking a moment to relax as well, leaning back as she undone and removed her gloves. "Well I won't deny you've got some surprises; this Jigen Haō Style of yours is pretty good in concept," she said as she proceeded to playfully smirk down at him. "But I'm Zangan's best student for a reason."

Blue removed his own gloves and lifted his right hand in front of his face, opening and closing it a few times. "Well, really I can't complain. I'm a normal guy from a normal universe and I get to spar with someone like you? I'm hopeful I can start improving in leaps."

"For starters, your focus doesn't fail anymore when watching my body's movements."

"In my defence!" Blue immediately protested to her light teasing. "I'm only human and you are very….athletic." He felt very strongly that he couldn't be blamed for having moments of distraction. It was Tifa Lockhart after all, not many people would be capable of remaining composed at seeing her for real. _Hell, Lucy would have just as much difficulty as me, if not more._

Tifa laughed at his flustered reaction and returned the conversation to its roots. "Point is, you're doing well. It's hard to find decent martial artists to spar with."

Tifa was the one to seem distracted now, looking down at Blue with eyes that seemed to glaze over for a moment, he had seen this look before. She was lost in thought. This time he questioned it, "You and Cloud have done this before?"

"Hm?"

"Looking at me like that," Blue sat up now to look at her directly. "You both have this look like you're thinking of someone."

She looked taken aback for a moment, nervous. It shifted to a warm smile while looking down at the ground; reminiscing, "You're a lot like an old friend of ours from back in Nibelheim. It's hard not to reflect."

Blue looked puzzled as he tried to think back on his knowledge of the game, he was sure Cloud had not really socialised with anyone other than Tifa. Sure, this was real instead of the scripted story of a game, but it still wasn't a change he was expecting.

He was going to question further but knowing everything that went down in Nibelheim…He wasn't sure if it was an old wound he should be having them open up again.

The smell of breakfast cooking faintly entered the dojo, Tifa got to her feet and offered her hand out for Blue; he took it and got to his feet with her help. "Well, let's get some food. You need to recover before your next round of training."

Blue nodded in agreement and followed her out of the training dojo like room attached to the home.

This was Blue's fifth day of being in this world now, three days since the encounter with Laughing Coffin. On the third day of being here; his training had completely been with Tifa. It was decided testing out the levels of his martial arts training was the best starting point.

Much like today, Tifa had the upper hand throughout it, more so on that day. This didn't bother Blue; she was a skilled fighter and had fought dangerous battles. He went into this training knowing it would be a steep learning curve to fight anywhere near the level of this world's heroes.

Day Four had been focused purely on sword based combat, Cloud and Iris both helping him while Iris also used it as an opportunity to further her own.

It wasn't too worrying for Blue. Jigen Haō was predominantly hand-to-hand, an adaptation of various styles but mostly a customised form of Kenpo and Karate. However there had been training in Kendo too.

It gave him somewhat of a head start in learning how to fight with a sword. Iris, thanks to her travels across worlds, had also assisted in helping Blue understand how to channel the innate energy that flowed throughout the universe and its denizens.

He had yet to be able to display any powers or techniques but he at least could feel a sensation of power flowing through him, it would help keep him defended if nothing else.

Now on Day Five he had started the day with three sparring matches against Tifa, one after another. He hadn't won but he was standing his ground and that was a good sign as far as he was concerned.

Nothing had happened with Laughing Coffin yet, though whether that was a good sign or not remained to be seen. Rufus Shinra, Reeve Tuesti and The Turks were still continuing their investigations.

As they left the dojo, the smell of bacon, sausages and eggs got stronger. Blue's stomach rumbled reminding him that he really should've eaten something before the training too.

In the dining and kitchen area, Shelke sat at the table, Barret in a seat next to her that put him also beside his daughter: Marlene. Cloud and Iris were just finishing setting plates full of food down for every chair. Besides Marlene was a young boy: Denzel, Tifa sat down on the other side of him; smiling at him as he greeted her.

With the table set, Cloud sat besides Tifa, and Iris took the remaining seat besides Blue, the group digging into their meal.

Despite his situation, despite the situation on this world currently…these gatherings never changed. Breakfast, Dinner, whatever the occasion; everyone was relaxed and enjoying each other's company in conversation.

 _Certainly doesn't hurt how good the food tastes too_ , Blue thought as he took another bite out of his bacon, pausing when he noticed Iris staring at him, lips curled into a smile. He swallowed his food and looked back, "what?"

"You really do feel at peace here, don't you?"

Blue glanced at the rest of the group, and then looked back to Iris with a smile. "I really do. It's not like I'm not worried about back home, and what I'm in for here. But they have such a close found family bond. It's hard not to feel happy just being around this atmosphere, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah," Iris said and glanced back at the group, a soft smile as she spoke. "Yeah, I do."

"So," Cloud spoke up, getting their attention "Slightly different plans for you today."

Blue put down his fork and knife, finishing his breakfast. "What do you have in mind?"

"I have some deliveries I need to run. While I'm doing that, you'll be with our friend Cid Highwind. You know of him right?"

Blue nodded, it was hard not to remember Cid from the game. His mannerisms made an impression.

"Your preferred fighting styles are hand-to-hand and swords," Shelke joined the conversation. "But you will achieve higher rate of success if you learn the way different weapons are fought with."

Tifa nodded in agreement with the decision, "and we figure it doesn't hurt to improve your knowledge of the planet and its technology through him."

 _If he can speak calmly that is,_ Blue thought for a moment before answering, "Sounds fine by me. What are your plans, Iris?"

"I'll be accompanying some others and those Turks down below the city of Midgar. The remains of Mako Reactor Zero they said."

"Deepground?" Blue recalled, looking puzzled as he said it. "I thought that whole situation was resolved."

"It is." Barret spoke up, speaking with his mouth full eating a sausage. "All of Deepground was defeated and most of what's left behind down there has been salvaged by Reeve and the rest of the World Regenesis Organisation."

Shelke continued the conversation since Barret seemed occupied taking another large bite of his breakfast, "due to their infiltration of Edge, we suspect Laughing Coffin may have taken refuge in the ruins."

"Shouldn't we all be going?"

Iris shook her head, "it's just simple recon. From what I'm told, these Ex-Shinra employees are specialists at this. I've also had my share of stealth in my travels."

She glanced off to the side, reminiscing with a sigh but a smile afterwards. "Wellllll," she drew the word out, "a lot of running more than anything."

"Well you should be good then," a feeling of relief washed over Blue as he spoke. "I'm sure you're in good hands with whoever else is coming along."

* * *

"I am the champion of the earth and the sky!" a cheerful young woman's voice began to boast.

Just under two hours later, they had gathered outside Seventh Heaven to greet those Iris would travel with. Reno, Rude and Cissnei stood nearby. Off to one side, keeping to himself in the shadows was the man known as Vincent Valentine.

Standing there before them, dramatically pointing to the sky with one hand while her other held a large shuriken over one shoulder, was the ninja girl Yuffie Kisaragi. Uninterrupted; she continued her dramatic speech, "the conqueror of evil! The single white rose of Wutai: Yuffie Kisaragi!"

Iris could do little but stare, unsure of how to react to the energetic behaviour, Blue stepped up closer to her and offered his own advice: "Keep a close eye on anything you own."

Overhearing this, Yuffie pouted and pointed the shuriken in his direction "Whaaaat?" her voice rose higher in pitch in protest. "Come on, I don't steal from people I travel with-"

Tifa loudly cleared her throat.

"-Anymore," she flashed a grin over at Cloud, "On a related note, where's my materia?"

"Where it's safe."

"And that location would be?"

"Safe."

"You're no fun."

"We should move on," Vincent said from his spot, interrupting the moment.

"Dude's got a point," Reno agreed, "Tseng and Elena are waiting and boy do I not want to hear complaints." He scratched at his head while beginning to mumble complaints about Tseng and timekeeping.

Wishing them luck and safety, Blue and the others bade them farewell. Iris gave one final reassurance that it would be okay then left with them.

The Game Master turned his attention to Cloud and Tifa, "So, how am I getting to Rocket Town?"

"Reeve has a shipment of parts flying there on an airship; you're essentially escorting the parts there."

After being informed of where to go to meet up with Reeve Tuesti, Blue gave his own temporary farewell and went on his way.

* * *

At their height, Shinra had held complete control over the planet; quite literally with the technology of the Mako Reactors. Their control only scratched the surface of the secrets that once lay within the company.

Armies, an arsenal of weapons and machines, the enhanced warriors of SOLDIER, experimentations, training children into living weapons…There was no shortage of rumours and often truths to the lengths the company would go.

Deepground was every single dark act of the company all wrapped up into one. Built at the same time as the headquarters, directly beneath the city itself; originally intended as simply a medical facility for SOLDIER, it became a scientific facility with its prime focus on human experimentation.

Iris, Vincent, Yuffie, Shelke and the Turks had arrived in the ruins of an underground city. Making their way here through the ruins of Midgar above, through a cavern entrance opened up by the previous battles and the clash of Meteor and Holy.

Buildings spread out across the cave system much like the city of Edge as opposed to the multi-tiered nature of Midgar, lights flickering or dimming as they barely functioned from neglect and damage.

The damaged and deactivated ruins of an old Mako Reactor towered over the city, connected to the ruined city above. The metal and stone pathways of the streets still showed signs of the internal war Deepground once waged for control; Cracks and craters, discarded weapons, bullet casings, dried stains of blood.

They stood in an alleyway between one building and another, they had been cautious with their movements while observing the surroundings and windows.

If there were any members of Laughing Coffin here, then they themselves were over-cautious and already hidden.

Tseng peered out into the city then looked back to the gathered group "For now, it seems we are in the clear."

"This place makes Gongaga look like a paradise," Reno threw out casually. Something told the others that he had been dying to make an insulting remark since they got here.

"Reno!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Cissnei. You liked hanging around there, spare me the lecture on sensitivity."

Iris chose to ignore the banter; she was quickly getting an idea on who Reno was as a person. She observed the city herself, searching for anything that looked out of place, sounded different.

No shapes moving in the darkness, no shadowy outlines of figures, mostly silent apart from the sounds of cave dwelling wildlife skittering about in the darkness, and the faint sound of water somewhere down below.

She concentrated and extended her senses to the surrounding area. There was a feeling of death and despair in the air, a presence of malevolence but nothing specific. If there was someone else, then they knew how to mask their power. She quietly sighed at the lack of any positive spiritual presences, not even some form of spirit life or summons to reach out to and gain assistance from.

She had to assume beings such as those avoided a location like this for the danger the Mako Reactors once caused to the life of the planet, likely also the cause for the unsettling vibe in the energy wavelengths of this area.

"That's enough, Reno" Tseng finally ordered, equally tired. It worked at least, Reno did stop bickering. "We'll spread out in teams of two, we'll cover plenty of ground and have our backs guarded. Teams are as follows: Elena, you're with me. Reno and Rude, I wouldn't separate the two of you. Vincent, you and Shelke move out as one. Cissnei, you and… Iris, was it?" Iris nodded at him. "We'll each spread out and see what we can find, if we don't find anything then we'll rendezvous back here in an hour."

"And if we find trouble?"

Tseng looked over to Rude and said back just as bluntly, "then make some noise."

Reno grinned, following Rude with his weapon over his shoulders, "my kind of orders."

Iris sighed; she had to hope that Blue's training would at least be progressing well. He couldn't possibly be around anyone as strangely energetic as this group.

* * *

Blue sat, not by choice, in the kitchen of the man known as Cid Highwind, doing little aside from looking at the hot cup of tea placed before him.

Cid lounged about in his own chair, already lifting the cup to his mouth and taking a deep smell of the rich aroma. "Mm-mmm, that is better than ever!"

"Cid, I don't mean to be rude," Blue stood up and leant forward, ignoring his cup. "But I really don't want to waste too much time."

Cid's free hand slammed on the desk, he leant forward himself to stare down the game master. "Shut up, siddown and drink your God! Damn! Tea!"

* * *

The further Iris and Cissnei moved into the former territory of Deepground, the more Iris felt unsettled by the facility.

Being attuned to various types of spiritual energies was an easy task for her, travelling and training had honed many abilities for her after all. But for however many bonuses that brought, there was just as much downsides to join it.

A place like this, a home for twisted experiments, it was impossible for it not to leave a lingering effect upon the life of the planet.

The countless deaths in the butchered name of 'science', the despair of those given no freedom, even now Iris could feel the lingering pain in the air, the anguish permeating the ground itself.

Most would feel some level of these sensations to be in a place such as this, no one could step foot into a place tainted with despair and not feel it. However to have senses so open and attuned left a much stronger impression.

"You sure you're going to be okay?"

Iris looked over to Cissnei who had stopped ahead of her; she nodded after a moment's hesitation "I've felt this before; it's just been a while. It's a lot to take in."

Cissnei could only offer a nod in response. The two were now inside the Mako Reactor, well, the ruins of it anyway.

Mako Reactor Zero had been the original power source for Shinra HQ and Deepground itself, also serving as the main facility for Deepground. Now it was barely intact after years of neglect, Deepground rebelling against Shinra, and the final conflicts Vincent himself had played a large role in.

It seemed just as abandoned as the rest of the facility; lights flickering or not functioning at all, not a single working computer, damaged architecture all around. Even the ground itself was broken apart to reveal deeper caverns.

Cissnei sighed as she stood up and moved away from the wrecked computer she had been examining. Her arms crossed over as she glanced around her surroundings, "Well I was hoping we could also grab more data while here but that's not looking likely."

"What kind of information were you hoping to get?"

"Closure."

She led the way and Iris followed, the two traversing down the more stable looking of the pathways available to them. "So tell me, Iris. Why'd you agree to help us out on this?"

"Why'd you ask me to?" Iris hadn't even missed a beat before answering. She had been waiting for a question such as this.

"Oh, now that's a very quick reversal." Cissnei briefly looked over her shoulder; smiling back at her companion. "Very well, I personally made the request. I'm just curious as to why you have the look of someone desperately searching."

"Well, I am an adventurer."

"Yes, so I've been told. An adventurer that got in the way of a military group, one based around spiritual entities." The air of Cissnei's voice changed as she quoted the explanation, was the explanation a joke to her?

Cissnei stopped them at a crossroads, peered into the different hallways available and then took them down the left one. Iris had been frowning in the midst of this; finally speaking up as they continued on their way. "If you met my godfather, you wouldn't be so surprised at this kind of life."

"Oh you misunderstand, I believe it. But you're giving a half-truth. You can't hide it from me: We of the Turks specialise in intelligence, among other less than pleasant skills."

Iris wasn't sure if she really was enjoying where this conversation was going. Cissnei seemed capable of speaking so casually while remaining completely alert, body tensed and ready to spring into action. Iris for her part felt tenser but from the conversation rather than the situation. "So what are you trying to ask?"

"What are you running from?"

Iris stopped, Cissnei heard this and stopped herself; turning to look. Still that pleasant smile on her face, even as Iris herself felt troubled by the question. "I'm not…running."

"Everyone runs, Iris. You don't have to talk to me about your past, we all have secrets." Her smile softened, less of the knowing teasing smile it once was…now more of a sympathetic one. "But I can see it in your eyes, Iris."

"See what?"

"The same look I've seen in my own eyes. Your path hasn't been pleasant either, and if you don't try and understand what you're doing; confront it. It will slowly wear you down. So if you're not running from anything…what are you running to?"

Iris breathed in, that was the problem after all. She wasn't truly sure herself. Cissnei was right, there were plenty of moments in her life she'd rather not think on and yet knew she needed to confront them. There was mysteries she needed to solve, an understanding she had yet to reach…but where and how to begin that? She had no idea.

She frowned again, maybe that wasn't completely true. Her hand moved up to brush some hair back, gently touching one of the hairclips as it moved. That hand lowered before her face, particles of crystal light gently manifested in her palm. Her expression softened ever so slightly as she came to the best answer she could give for now. "I'm running to family and friends, I guess. I don't know what I need to do, but maybe I'll find an answer in the people I can trust."

A comforting hand touched her shoulder; it was soothing and unexpected to her for it to come from Cissnei. "That's why I wanted you with me, Iris. I don't know your pain but I know what it can do to a person. Sometimes all that you need is just the smallest form of help, it's what saved me. Hold on to the people you can trust."

Iris's expression softened further, smiling gratefully at Cissnei. She hadn't been too sure what to expect from the young woman but it was clear that she truly did mean the best intentions.

An overwhelming pressure flashed through Iris's mind. As quick as she gasped, it was already gone but her senses traced the path of the power she sensed. Something was below them.

Cissnei caught the shift in Iris's posture, followed her gaze to the floor beneath them "What do you feel?"

"It feels like…a tear in space and time?" Iris murmured, equal parts concerned and puzzled by the feeling. "But down here?" Another sensation coursed its way through her very being.

The unsettling aura of despair had already been upsetting enough, but the new feeling of darkness she felt from below them dwarfed that.

Her very soul felt endangered just from the mere feeling of it, a corruptive mark on the fabric of reality itself threatening to break all around into despair and submission.

The depths of this despair were so potent that she almost didn't sense the danger; just barely grabbing Cissnei and moving back as the floor they once stood on gave way. No, it was ripped apart by jagged waves of dark energy.

The crystallised light came to Iris's hands and then took the form of daggers, Cissnei held her own shuriken at the ready as they peered into the suddenly unveiled cavern system below.

A flooded cave with pieces of land scattered about between stalactites and stalagmites. Mako energy in the form of crystals scattered the chamber, embedded into the rocks and dirt offering a dim pale green glow throughout.

The only other source of light was cast by a shimmering jagged shape floating barely above the ground of one chunk of land. Dark blue and wavy energy shimmered within but there appeared to be something else, vaguely from this distance they could make out the faint details of an entirely different location within. The anomaly could only be described as a tear in the fabric of reality itself, less of a portal hanging in the air, rather the air itself torn asunder.

Iris leaned forward to get a better look. Cissnei's hand swung forward and pulled her back only to take her place as her other hand raised the shuriken. A blade clashed against it then moved back, reflected by the quick block. A humanoid shape wielding the blade fell back into the depths below.

"Thanks" Iris quickly said to Cissnei even as the two jumped down into the depths themselves. She knew there had been something in that cavern, something to cause that destruction and sensation of power. But to move that fast? She may have been distracted by the space-time distortion but she hadn't expected a threat to emerge instantly from the depths.

The two of them touched down upon a separate part of land, looking over to the tear to see their attacker now standing before it as if some sort of guard. It certainly seemed human, or at least it was at one point.

Seemingly male in appearance, a black suit torn and damaged still adorned the figure, a one-handed sword wielded in its left hand. But there were injuries across its body seen through the damaged clothing: deep cuts from the slashes of bladed weapons, piercing holes from bullets or stabbing motions from other bladed weapons, signs of dried blood, bruised flesh. But they were old injuries, this body was dead.

Un-dead creatures were hardly a new threat to be found upon this world, but Cissnei had never seen an example like this before; because there was more to this appearance than simply the aftermath of a battle. Strange black ooze coated parts of the body, shadowy wisps of smoke; a dark aura manifesting around the creature from the substance.

The ooze was segmented in parts across the body but the head was almost completely consumed offering no accurate look at the face. Small patches of brown hair atop the head in-between pulsing corruptive ooze, the eyes; a deadened expression and turned a reddish-yellow while ooze leaked out of their corners.

It was looking directly at them, as best they could tell, its body swaying slightly on the spot. There were no distinctive muscle movements to read, no conscious decision being made by the long deceased individual. Cissnei glanced over the entity, took in its appearance and the substance upon it. For however confident she had been when reading Iris, for how strong her poker face had been there…there was none of it now. Iris noticed it too; widened eyes, a sharp gasp for air, the Turk's eyes seemed to shake as she analysed the details of their foe.

Cissnei finally broke the silence at the very least though. "Is that…Geostigma? I've never seen it like this before."

The mako crystals flickered, their light dimmer for but a moment. That moment was enough for the creature to move without warning. Iris swung her daggers up and caught the blade between them in time as it swung for her. The creature's sword pushing against the deadlock as it now stood before her. "Is that…A Turk uniform?"

The creature broke the deadlock and jumped back, Cissnei's shuriken passing by the gap it once occupied. It returned to its wielders hand as she stood between Iris and the threat, "Don't dwell on it."

"Cissnei, do you…know who it used to be?"

"I do…It's like I said: I'm here for closure."

It pulled back the sword, the same feeling from before flooded Iris's senses. Despair and corruptive darkness overwhelming as purple and black energy began to spark violently around the blade. With one swing the energy coursed out towards them ripping apart dirt and rocks, the water around their platform pushing away like waves from the pressure.

An energy barrier manifested by Iris intervened, cracking as the energy came down upon it hard. It held just long enough for the energy to dissipate, shattering immediately afterwards.

Cissnei sprinted forward, her shuriken thrown out before her towards the enemy. It deflected it but already was she in motion. Jumping into the air and catching it then bringing it down towards the head. Its right hand rose up and grabbed the shuriken; or rather it let the shuriken embed into the necrotic flesh, blocking the blow to its head at the expense of the weapon piercing through its palm and out the back of its hand.

It made no reaction to the damage, there was no pain for it to be concerned with anymore. Cissnei grit her teeth, frustrated at its action. She pulled out her weapon, the hand cut open so severely in the process that it easily just snapped off the wrist and fell to the ground. She swung again to block its sword and entered a deadlock, eyes narrowing at the creature. "Using any of the dead like this, let alone my family, this is sick."

Iris arrived from its left side, throwing one dagger at its head while stabbing the other towards its left arm. The palm of her hand pushed at the base of the hilt to quicken the force of the thrust. Dark energy lashed out from the deceased warrior, pushing Cissnei out of the deadlock and deflecting the dagger aimed for its head harmlessly into the air.

The creature jumped back, the dagger grazing it but not slowing it down as it followed up by swinging the blade down at the passing by Iris.

The daggers were already disappearing, her own sword replacing them as she quickly swung up. The advantage of higher angle was with the entity and it pushed her down to her knees but she held firm with her defence; pushing back desperately.

A blue aura surrounded Cissnei like the flames of a fire, willpower manifesting in the form of her own limit break. Golden light covered her shuriken with multiple small star shaped particles of light fluttering around it momentarily.

She threw the shuriken at the monster, it moved back to avoid. The shuriken sharply turned and came back at it. The sword deflected it but once again another sharp turn and it came right back.

The creature continued to parry and evade while Cissnei's hands made slight motions, with the skill of a conductor, as she guided the shuriken through her own power.

The creature's speed increased; unnatural in its movements but still some measure of inherited skill as it pushed its remains far past their limits. Cissnei's shuriken however matched its pace, its golden light burning intensely as it took sharper and sharper turns; determined to catch the threat off guard. "You may have some of his speed, may retain a semblance of recklessness, but that's not going to be enough to win."

Evasive actions had ceased, it could only rely upon deflecting with its blade now. Even this was not a defence that would hold out though; the sword had begun to crack and chip. Cissnei's shuriken, powered by her Limit Break she had dubbed 'Lucky Stars,' was sharper and more powerful than normal.

Whatever dark presence was moving this corpse could not keep up with the instincts and conscious thoughts of the living. It swung the blade once more only for the shuriken to go right through it. The hilt remained in its hand while shattered pieces of the blade scattered into the air, falling around it.

Cissnei's gloved hands caught the shuriken, her body already diving forwards to the creature. She pulled the shuriken back, preparing to stab it forward and finish this.

Darkness burst forth around the un-dead warrior, the shockwave pushed Cissnei back and she lost stable footing on the ground; stumbling backwards.

In turn the creature dived forward. Despair of the damned channelled through its dark aura as it reached out its remaining hand, dropping the broken sword in the process.

Iris moved in the direction but it was clear to both of the young women that she was not going to intercept or prevent the attack in time.

Cissnei grit her teeth and moved her shuriken before her as a make-shift shield. The energy rushed forward from the hand towards her, slamming into the shuriken and sending her flying to another piece of land. She hit the ground hard; spine arching in pain as she coughed up saliva from the impact shaking her.

An inhuman roar, the creature's legs bent as it prepared to pounce. Iris jumped in its way, her sword already bearing down on it as she soared through the air.

Its hand grabbed at the blade, the strange ooze and empowerment it brought resisting the same easy damage its other arm had sustained.

This time Iris held her ground, boots digging into the dirt as she pushed back. Brilliant silver steel of her sword cut against a physical corruption that pulsed and shifted in resistance against the attack.

The aura flared upwards and outwards more and more, the lighting of the cavern slowly bathed in a dark purple glow. Red demonic eyes narrowed down at straining green ones, a cold despair slowly chipping away at whatever light of hope she could muster.

From Cissnei's position, it was hard to make out Iris or the creature within the maelstrom of dark energy. It seemed impossible to tell if there even was still a fight occurring or if the corruptive existence had already begun to consume all around it.

Yet a soft golden light began to form within the raging waves of darkness.

Iris glanced at her own hands in surprise as the light manifested around them. Soothing warmth in the nostalgic familiarity it filled her heart with, yet a noticeable white-hot burning to the feel as it surged up around her sword. Little by little the darkness began to subside as the light used her weapon as a medium to reach the target.

The ooze began to burn in the splendour of this holy light, said light enveloping the blade to make direct contact.

She yelled out, one final push on the blade as it cut through smoothly. It may as well have been a lit match touching oil for how rapidly it consumed the entire creature's body. It devastated the un-dead body, purified the malady across its remains. For but a moment in that light, Iris saw completely revealed short brown hair, blue eyes; albeit with a milky-white haze from being deceased, and then the entire creature was gone.

With no strange substance to hold it together, the long-since deceased body faded away in the burning light.

The cavern began to settle, no more trembling ground, the water settling once more, the lighting provided only by the crystals once again.

The light around her hands faded, she released her weapon and let it too fade away; staring at her hands in wonder for a moment before looking over to Cissnei who had begun to pull herself up to her feet, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm-" She trailed off, Iris tensed up preparing for new danger...then she took a further look at Cissnei.

The Turk had frozen in place, mid-motion of getting to her feet. She hadn't trailed off; she had completely frozen in time, "Cissnei?"

"There is no hate, only joy."

She almost lost her balance with how quick she turned to find the source of the new voice, masculine sounding but soft; poetic.

"For you are beloved by the Goddess."

She looked to the platform with the strange portal, the tear in space-time. A man stood there now, auburn hair swept to the right, a long red coat over a black uniform, the uniform of the SOLDIER force of this world.

Eyes like Cloud's, glowing with the aura of mako itself, stared across the water at her. He was smiling calmly and yet Iris kept on guard. His poetic voice recited one more line to her, "Hero of the dawn, healer of worlds."

Her eyes briefly widened, her right hand's fingers instinctively twitching slightly as the crystal fragments materialized and flowed around them; they took no form yet but his comments clearly had her on guard. "Who are you? Are you with that creature?"

"No, I share no allegiance with the killers you seek either." He turned away from her to stare at the space-time tear. "Fascinating, truly this is beyond their power."

She took a few steps towards the edge before jumping right over to the same piece of land as the stranger and the distortion. Here she could make out details within the swirling vortex, a forest of unnatural fauna; coral-like in nature.

The man's hand waved before the portal, the energy of the lifestream flowed from his hand to the tear. Bit by bit the energy dissipated, closing up as reality restored itself to normal. "It would appear that daemon was used as a guard and anchor for this pathway, a simple matter to close it now."

A sword levelled itself besides his head, "oh?"

He smiled and glanced back at Iris holding the sword over his shoulder, eyes narrowed as she spoke with more demand, "I said: who are you?"

"I suppose you haven't had much of a history lesson in this world, I am Genesis Rhapsodos."

If his identity was supposed to mean something; Iris had no idea, but she was not going to take any chances until she knew exactly who or what she was dealing with. "What do you want?"

He turned to face her slowly, a calm chuckle, the kind of calm chuckle that made Iris want to cut him just to make him feel a sense of danger. She held back the temptation. "Simply to see that the planet is protected, the goddesses' will was for me to dispatch the daemon if you did not succeed. We must not allow any new traces of the scourge of the stars to infect this planet."

"Then help us with Laughing Coffin, it clearly was being used by them."

Genesis shook his head, "I'm afraid a group of mere killers do not warrant our intervention. Whatever created this rift, whatever created this daemon; they are not on this world anymore."

Iris bitterly pulled the sword away and let it vanish, yet her hostility remained in her mannerisms, "Figures, well the 'clean up' is over so we're done here."

Genesis turned away and took multiple strides off to the other side before looking over his shoulder. "However, if you will accept a small form of help, then the location from that rift is upon the northern continent: The Forgotten City. Your comrades know of it."

A single large black wing emerged from his left shoulder and swung outwards, "Even if the morrow is barren of promises. Nothing shall forestall my return. To become the dew that quenches the land. To spare the sands, the seas, the skies, I offer thee this silent sacrifice." With one final recital; he took off from the ground into the air only to disappear moments after.

Iris sighed at the unneeded dramatic effect and looked back over to Cissnei just before time restored itself.

"-Okay, how are-" this time Cissnei did actually trail off as she blinked and looked over to Iris's new location. "Did I miss something?"

"I'll explain when we're all together, the important thing is I know where we can find Laughing Coffin now."

The Turk was understandably confused but nodded all the same. Her gaze slowly moved over to the broken remains of the creature's sword, whatever professional talent she had for masking her emotions failed as she smiled while her eyes seemed pained.

The hostility in Iris's own expression disappeared, softening into a sympathetic look over to Cissnei. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Cissnei breathed deeply, sighing as she looked back up. "Thank you…I kind of always knew, but…Everyone in the Turks was my family; they saved me, you can't help but hold out hope." She crossed her arms and looked up to the hole they had fallen through, "Let's get back to the others."

* * *

The day had passed by rather rapidly but Blue had been impressed just how productive the day had been. Once Cid had got moving; they had been non-stop in their efforts.

Sparring with Cid/Cid showing off various spear based techniques, basic introductions to various parts and functions of his ship: The Shera, information on numerous forms of technology upon this world. It was definitely a beginner's course but Blue couldn't deny he definitely felt like today had been rewarding.

He smiled a little as he thought about how there would've been very little combat training if Lucy was here, she would've kept Cid and his wife busy all day with questions about the ship and technology.

It had gotten pretty late and so they had decided to stay in Rocket Town for the night and return the next day. The game master had not yet been able to get much needed sleep though. He stood out in the backyard of Cid's house, beneath a fairly shoddy wooden gazebo; for the praises that could be said of Cid's mechanical skills, the same could not be said for carpentry.

He stood underneath this barely adequate shelter to remain out of the rain coming down hard. If he wasn't getting sleep then he at least wanted the space of being on his own and the rain certainly provided that, the sound was almost soothing in a way to have as a constant presence.

His right hand was holding onto the sword gifted to him, studying the craftsmanship of it as he focused his senses. It was still a little difficult to wrap his head around the sensation of power dwelling within but he got the general idea. From how Iris had described it; almost all beings in the universe held a sense of power to them, manifesting in different ways across different worlds.

Often it wouldn't develop past much more than that sensation, the will to keep on pushing oneself, a determination. But there would of course be the worlds and individuals who would reach true forms of power: Magic, energy beams, enhancing of body and/or weapons, the list could stretch on forever.

So many worlds, all with their own origins and natures behind the way powers and abilities worked. But still a thin thread between them all that tied them to a core concept across the entire cosmos.

He could feel…something…he had tried to channel it into his blade. The idea was there in his head, writing a character version certainly came in handy for imagining the ideal abilities he'd prefer. If he could manage abilities with his sword, his own versions of Limit Breaks, he could expand further from there. It shouldn't be too much out of the question, he had thought of them before when he first imagined a character version of himself for even this world when it came to writing stories.

But still nothing. The power was there, aching to be used…but he just couldn't understand it enough to tap into it fully, to flow throughout him and into his weapon.

He sighed deeply and looked into the rain, surrendering the focus of his senses to the sound of it beating down on the ground. So fast of a downpour that one would struggle to tell the sound of a single drop from any other.

 _A single drop of water._

Now that was a sudden rush of nostalgia, he thought back to his martial arts lessons, one in particular. He and Lucy kneeling before a man in his forties, black hair already heavily greying, brown eyes so dark that they pulled you in, pierced through you...but yet they held a warm kind darkness, not the cold so many would assume.

It was easy to remember his words; their master just had such an impact with his voice and words, they hung eagerly on every lesson he taught. _"Though your palms are as a raging fire, your mind shall be clear and serene. You feel the flames so now visualise within your mind a rush of water."_

As Blue let the memory fill his thoughts, he focused on the sound of the rain; the torrential downpour. _"Now focus, you don't need to lose yourself to the intensity of the fight, to struggle until you fall apart."_ Blue raised his sword and placed it over his right shoulder. _"Within the rage of the flood, you'll see it."_ A soft blue glow began to coat Blue's blade while at the same time small particles of azure light surrounded him like the light of the stars, _"A single drop of water."_

For but a moment he felt it, not the downpour of the rain…but the sound and sight of one single drop touching the ground. Driven by instinct he leapt forward, innate energy propelling him forward further than he expected as he swung his blade down in a diagonal arc and expelled the energy harmlessly before it faded away.

The rain quickly began to soak him but still he stood there staring in surprise at his outstretched arm and sword. He could feel it more strongly now, a clear and defined sensation of the power burning within him. He really had to find some way to thank his master whenever he made it back home; to think his philosophy would even help Blue tap into powers buried within.

Feeling his clothes starting to stick to him was a good sign it was time to head inside now, Blue sheathed his sword and made his way back into the house.

* * *

The following day was when everyone began to gather together. It was decided that the core group of Cloud and his comrades, along with Blue and Iris, would take The Shera to the Northern Continent and head to The Forgotten City.

With the loss of their shortcut into Edge, Laughing Coffin would undoubtedly be expecting them. The safest option would be to land outside the 'Bone Village'; the archaeological dig site, and travel through The Sleeping Forest and Corral Valley to reach the city.

Shelke along with the Turks would remain in the city on the off chance that something went wrong, or if members of Laughing Coffin still came here regardless.

Blue was asked once more if he was sure about taking part in this. They were about to engage in battles with those who had no hesitation in killing and torture. No one would hold it against him if he didn't feel ready physically and mentally for the task ahead, there was after all the certainty that the fights would be to the death in order to stop this group.

He was scared, he didn't deny it. But he remained committed to his decision; determined to make sure that no one else died all because he was the target. If he was going to be stuck in this universe for the near future, take on this warrior role known as a Game Master…then he couldn't back down just because of the danger.

Iris was also given the choice; no one doubted her skill or determination but everyone understood that she had been trying to escape her own dangerous situation. It didn't seem right to just expect her to involve herself. Regardless she joined in too, determined to help new found friends, although she had to admit she was curious to see the abandoned city of the Cetra as well.

The airship had touched down just outside the dig site, already close in time to sunset after they had gathered, planned, and made their way here.

It was quiet; that was the first thing Blue noticed. Cliché as it was: It was too quiet. No sounds of anyone at work digging into the late hours, no sounds of workers ending early for the night; laughing as they enjoyed merry company among drinks and food. There was no one here.

"Did excavations in this area stop?" Blue asked the group hopefully as they took cautious steps further in.

"No, it's still supposed to be going on," Barret's artificial hand was already transformed into its gun form as he spoke.

Blue's grip tightened on his sword while he glanced around their surroundings for anything out of place, "I was afraid you'd say that."

It was difficult for him to take in the surroundings completely. Seeing an area through a video game, an older one at that, was completely different to seeing it for real. The area was much bigger than the restrictions of a game had shown him, more rocky and uneven, more unearthed bones than he expected. Across a particularly tall hill of dirt was even a collection of bones still mostly intact in the shape of a creature lying atop it.

Tifa lightly shook her hands, flexing her fingers as she kept focusing on warming up her body, "Iris, you have sharper senses than us for off-world anomalies. Do you sense anything?"

"There's some kind of spiritual energy around here but I wouldn't say it's a summon spirit or anything along those lines. It's not like that creature I told you about, but there is an aura of-"

"-Death," The lion like beast known as Red XIII finished for her, his own senses somewhat sharpened by his life in Cosmo Canyon.

Riding upon his back was the robotic cat known as Cait Sith, its artificial intelligence in control currently so that Reeve Tuesti could maintain communication with the group when needed. He looked down at Red and then back up at the abandoned dig-site, "Going right for morbid ain't ya?" He looked over to Vincent, "you must be right at home."

Vincent remained quiet and Cait Sith sighed loudly "oy, trying to lighten the mood here."

"You should stick to your day job."

Cait Sith turned over to Yuffie and snapped at her jibe at him "lassie, shut yer mouth!" The ninja girl immediately spun in his direction too; ready to yell back at him before Tifa sighed herself.

"Let's not get at this again, you two. There's a time and a place."

To their credit, Blue appreciated it. It broke up the quiet and it was nice to witness the characters he grew up with interacting like this, a welcome distraction from whatever danger they would be walking into.

He looked up at the large hill of dirt again and the bones atop it. His feet came to a stop so suddenly that he dug into the dirt a little. "Guys?" They all stopped at the urgency in his voice and looked to him. It was right there in front of him, how could he have not seen it?

The bones atop the hill, they shouldn't be there. Yes, this was reality and not the game he was familiar with…but they were perfectly placed upon the hill. They clearly weren't being excavated; pieces weren't rolling down the hill… It was an entire intact creature's skeleton out in the open…right in the direction they needed to go in.

The group stared at the bones then looked to each-other and then to Cloud. Their leader nodded over to Vincent. He raised his triple-barrelled handgun: Cerberus to aim at the skeleton, a moment's pause before he fired and three shots blasted out and slammed into the bones.

They pierced through but almost immediately afterwards the holes closed up; regenerating. With its ambush now foiled, the creature began to stir.

It rose up, crying out an inhuman screech across the dig-site. A demonic skeletal centipede like creature with an elongated skull, there were four red eyes staring down at its prey; glowing like burning candles. Its roar revealing how its mouth of many teeth opened into multiple jaws, its arms like two large scythes as they dug into the ground beneath it. Bones like open rib cages flexed like scythes around it while many bladed skeletal legs shifted the sand and dirt beneath them.

It towered above them, a little higher than the equivalent of two people standing on each other. There on the chest of its body was a large hole allowing one to see through the other side. With its presence fully revealed; all could feel that spiritual sensation of death in the air. A cold fear taking hold over them and yet their weapons rose in resistance.

"Let's move!" Cloud ran and jumped forward first, the combined fusion sword swinging forward at the monster. Its right scythe-arm came down hard at the blade, bone clashing against steel. The force behind it slammed Cloud back onto the ground. He landed on his feet but the impact pushed him into the dirt as he pushed back with all his strength.

Cid jumped up high into the air, stabbing his spear down as he fell. Its left scythe arm had begun to move up at him but was intercepted when Tifa's fist collided with the side of the arm and actually pushed it back. The spear stabbed into the head and brought forth another screech from it.

Vigorous shaking of its head dislodged the spear and sent Cid flying off it; recovering in mid-air to land safely on the ground.

The skeletal monstrosity began to move, its many legs carrying it across the ground fast. The group scattered in time to avoid it running them down with its gargantuan size.

Scythe-arms swung as it moved forcing them to keep on the move, barely staying ahead of attacks as its centipede like body manoeuvred with far more agility than they expected. Dirt and sand were flung up into the air as a scythe-arm carved through it on its way to Vincent, he emerged flying up out of the dust; spinning to aim and fire multiple rounds into the creature's head.

It reared back, its head jerking to the side as Yuffie's shuriken slammed into it before bouncing away to return to her. Red XIII pounced from a mound of dirt towards it, a build up of energy manifesting before him as he soared through the air towards the head.

"MOUTH! TOO CLOSE!" Cait Sith's screams of protest went unheeded by Red as his Sled Fang limit break carried them through the air, narrowly avoiding the mouth as the energy before him pierced a large hole through the shoulder.

The wound was already beginning to regenerate but the injury did not stop it from swinging its tail at Red. Iris's hand stretched out as she stood in the path, a barrier of light appearing and withstanding the blow.

The impact pushed her back, feet digging into the sand to try and hold her ground as the bones continued to grind against the energy, trying to break through. Her other hand joined the first to strengthen the defensive barrier.

Even as it focused on attacking them with its tail, it was still swinging its scythe-arms at the rest of the team. Rapid fire from Barret's gun-arm pierced numerous holes but not fast enough to prevent the regeneration. A scythe came for him next.

Blue bent forward, his stance low to the ground as his blade was held in a parallel manner to his right leg, and then drew the sword back. _Rage Spike._ A burst of energy propelled him forward and consumed the sword in pale blue light. Ten meters were covered in almost an instant by the energy propelling him, his sword slashing up to counter the scythe-arm.

He dropped to one knee as the scythe crashed down upon his blade; he didn't have the same strength as Cloud to hold this back. Grunting and deeply breathing as he tried desperately to push back the creature's arm. His sword descended lower and lower, the scythe pushing down closer and closer to his shoulder and neck.

Cloud's blade and Tifa's fist slammed against the scythe in a unified assault, pushing it away from Blue and into the ground. Shots enhanced by the power of Chaos within Vincent blasted holes into the tail, Cid's spear drove into its back.

The tail pulled back from Iris's barrier enough to grant her a moment's reprieve and she took the opening. The energy shattered and she jumped through it to land on the monster's back, a greatsword was called to manifest in her hands and she swung it down hard.

Its inhuman screech was a full on scream at this point, everyone had to move back as it began to speed around them before coming to a stop upon higher ground to glare down at them.

"We need to keep it from moving around so much," Cloud said, instructing the team. "Iris, Blue, and I will keep the arms occupied as best I can, everyone else try and trap it from the sides. Tifa, once we have it in that position I need you to blast right through it."

"One Final Heaven coming right up."

The brief few seconds of planning came to an abrupt end as the air began to feel heavier. There was a build up of spiritual energy leaving a noticeable pressure on the air; gathering before the creature. A black sphere formed within its open mouth before it shifted into a crimson colour and began to spark wildly; the energy around it expanding fast.

"Barret! Yuffie!"

The two didn't need any more instruction from Cloud; stepping in front of the group with an orange aura of energy flickering around each of them. Yuffie held her shuriken out vertically before her, her own energy orb began to manifest in front of it; as dark as the night with the outer area tinted purple.

The central barrel of Barret's gun-arm began to fill up with green and white energy; his arm shaking from the build up of power as he tried to keep a steady aim towards the creature.

The creature fired first; ball of energy converting into a beam that rushed down towards the group. Dirt and sand were thrown into the air from the force, the ground beneath their feet trembling. Yuffie fired back before it could reach them, the power she had titled 'All Creation' rushing out as its own beam from the sphere to collide with the opponent's and begin pushing it back.

Everyone else had to brace themselves, keeping a stable stand on the ground as best they could to avoid being blown back by the shockwaves of pressure from the clash. The colours of the energy clash bathed their surroundings in a dark crimson glow.

Barret levelled his gun-arm towards the clash, the power he had simply called 'Big Shot' fired out through the gun; mixed with the weapon's own build up of energy.

The explosive blast of energy tore through the clash and detonated all three attacks in a combined blast. Dust, sand, and dirt scattered into the air from the shockwave. Fast skittering across the ground was heard only moments before a scythe-arm swung through the dust.

Cloud's fusion sword swung in return and actually deflected it away, he knew the strength he was dealing with now; knew how to adjust to deal with it.

The other arm came at his side, not fast enough to prevent Blue and Iris getting in the way and swinging their own blades at it.

The creature roared out as it pushed through the dissipating dust cloud, Cid came down from above and pierced his spear right through its tail; pinning it to the ground as best he could.

The attackers split to either side; Vincent and Yuffie attacking from the right while Barret and Red XIII along with Cait led the assault from the left.

Gunshots and the throwing of the shuriken barraged the skeletal frame, Red assaulting the legs to throw them off balance and steadily weaken them. With its body kept in one spot and its tail kept pinned, all it could do was continually swing its scythe-arms down upon the sword wielders before it.

Together Iris and Blue were able to manage the strength to hold back one arm. Cloud single-handedly keeping the other occupied. Steel clashed against bone again and again; chipping and cracking it before it would regenerate…but the regeneration was beginning to slow, they were wearing it down.

Dark energy burst up around it and threw the groups to the side away, launching Cid up off of the tail to free it as well. Blue and Iris lost their footing. It was only for a moment but it was enough for the scythe-arm to swing again in the direction of Cloud still occupied keeping the other arm busy.

Blue, Iris, and Tifa moved in silent unison. Blue's sword moved to his shoulder as he initiated the same skill he first triggered in Cid's backyard. _Sonic Leap._ A burst of energy carried him forward and his sword slashed down vertically upon the arm.

Iris's own sword swung down with a small build-up of energy, a partial activation of her Screen Divide technique without the same level of charge.

With the addition of Tifa jumping up and slamming her foot down upon the blade, the three pushed it down to dig through the sand and embed there. Blue and Iris kept the pressure upon the arm, gritting their teeth as their arms strained against the creature's might.

Cloud pushed back and looked over to Tifa, she needed no words from him or to him; only nodding as her right fist pulled back.

Orange energy erupted around her, consuming her fist in burning red power. The creature too decided to disregard a charge-up time for its technique; the same light from before manifesting within its mouth, smaller in power but dangerous all the same.

Blue and Iris pulled back from the arm, it flung up into the air and Tifa used it as a springboard to leap towards the creature's head.

It screeched at her, firing off the blast of crimson destructive energy. Tifa's fist slammed forward and the energy it released was akin to a roar, drowning out the screech.

The explosive force of Final Heaven burst away from her fist and consumed the opponent's attack and then its body in a pillar of destructive light.

Blue breathed out heavy, watching Tifa land nearby Cloud while the rest of the group stood at the ready. His grip tightened on his own weapon as he too stood at the ready. He certainly didn't feel it though. He knew this was going to be rough but they hadn't even got to Laughing Coffin itself yet.

"We can do this," Iris said as she stood besides him. That re-assurance, that confidence, that camaraderie; it was enough to keep him determined to support them all in this even if it meant going far beyond what he thought his own limits were right now.

The dust cleared. Multiple legs were broken, its body seared in energy. Its left arm was completely obliterated along with a large chunk of that shoulder, the left side of its head eradicated while the right cracked and crumbled slightly.

The game master smiled at the extent of the injuries; they could win this. Victory was in the grasp of their hands now.

The sand beneath Blue parted and its cracked tail shot up and wrapped around his waist. It all happened too fast for anyone to react to in time. Even with damaged body and legs, the creature quickly turned and leapt up the hill, its tail pulling out of the sand; dragging Blue with it.

Vincent moved to aim his gun but couldn't get a clear shot with the tail swinging Blue around in the air. The group made to move in pursuit but it was far too late. The creature disappeared from their sight over the hill with Blue captive.

* * *

The last thing he had heard was Iris calling out his name before it immediately grew distant. How could something so damaged still move so fast in its evasion? Blue struggled in the grip and tried to swing his sword but couldn't get a decent angle on the tail around him. It tore through The Sleeping Forest, knocking down trees in its way, it travelled down the slope of the ravine with ease; stumbling only slightly with the lack of some legs.

It began to crawl its way through the strange silver crystal-like coral trees around The Forgotten City. He needed to get free right now before it took him right into the heart of Laughing Coffin's territory.

He risked spinning the blade around in his hand; luckily he did not drop it as he switched his grip to have the blade pointing directly at the tail and stabbed into a cracked part.

The crack fractured further, he drove it deeper into the wedge he had created. It split apart and the creature screeched out as it made its way into the darkness of the forest; despite Blue being released and dropping to the floor.

The momentum carried him rolling along the ground a little further until he came to a stop. Slowly and shakily he got to his feet, wary of a further attack.

A few cautious steps, his grip on the sword tight as he scanned the dark environment around him; lit only by the silver light from the crystal flora. It wasn't far, he could tell that much…but it at least wasn't immediately close by. He could have a moment to breath and work on a plan of action.

There was rustling from somewhere in the trees nearby. _Well, that was short-lived._ Putting his thoughts aside he began to glance around again. There was too much of an echo to tell where the sound was coming from until it was immediately besides him.

He turned just in time to see someone rush out of the trees, looking over their shoulder. They looked back to their front and gasped to see Blue standing there. He had just enough time to see beneath their blue hood a feminine Japanese face and her teal eyes widen before her body crashed into him.

The momentum threw him back onto the ground, rolling once again much to his chagrin though this time he immediately brought himself to his feet.

The sudden arrival fell back too before using her left hand to spring her body to her feet. Her right hand pulled out a Sword Breaker dagger from a sheath at her waist as she ran at Blue.

His own eyes widened, he let out a gasp as he narrowly ducked under a horizontal swing before stepping and leaning back to avoid the follow-up vertical slash. He pushed his own sword out in front of him to deflect a thrust away from him.

The two began to trade blows, sparks from the clash of steel as their swords deflected each other again and again. Her eyes seemed to be studying his outfit; surprising considering he was doing the same even as he pushed himself to defend against the onslaught. _That outfit doesn't appear to be Laughing Coffin?_

He needed a moment to breath, needed her to stop. He took the offensive and swung his blade in a downwards arc. His opponent's hand switched her blade into a reverse grip and swung it forward to block him, his sword slid between the deep serrated teeth and they entered a dead-lock.

The blades and their hands shook as they both pushed equal might onto the deadlock, and yet the tension seemed to lessen slightly. Her narrowed eyes opening up more as she looked questioningly at him "Who…are you?"

"Me?" He almost shouted. She had the nerve to attack him and then ask him who he was? "Who are you?!"

With a moment to breath he tried to take in her appearance more: Short hair that was brownish-yellow in colour; dandelion. Her clothing seemed to be a tube top of different shades of blue, brown finger-less gloves, a blue arm sleeve on her left arm while a silver-arm guard braced her right. All of this along with the black shorts, black thigh-high socks and brown boots just did not seem anything like the tattered clothing of Xaxa and Johnny Black.

The closest he could possibly see would be the hooded blue cloak but it was also in noticeably much better condition. On another look at her face he could see she was around his age too, maybe not quite in her twenties but definitely over eighteen.

"Are you with Laughing Coffin?" Both spoke at once and then stared at each other upon noticing that.

Nearby trees were pushed aside with enough force to rip them from their roots as a large creature slammed down from above. The skeletal creature stood there once again; still injured but still a threat. "Just one minute to catch my breath, that's all I ask," Blue complained out-loud as he and his opponent pulled their blades away from each other.

It screeched down at them both, swinging its one working scythe-arm down at them.

As they jumped back, Blue looked over to her…it was a risk but he needed to go through with it "Hey! Injured or not we're going to need to work together to take it down!"

Her eyes darted between him and the creature, her fingers tightening on the hilt of her dagger. "Why do you think I'd join forces with-" She trailed off so that she could dart to the side and avoid another swing.

It turned its body and swung what was left of its damaged tail towards her. Blue's sonic leap attack let him intercept it just in time, his blade knocking it to the side and cracking it further. "We can sort out our differences later; right now we need to get through this."

"…Why help me? How do you know I won't just stab you in the back?"

Even as she aired this fact, he turned to face the monster and gave her a clear opening to his back. He spoke over his shoulder to her while keeping a prepared gaze on their real threat, "maybe you will. Honestly have no idea. But I have to assume you want to live and obviously so do I. Only way either of us get the slightest chance of that is to beat this together."

The creature screeched out again. The fact he could hear that was actually a good thing he had to figure though. It meant he was still alive.

The young woman stepped up besides him, sighing in resignation as she prepared her own weapon. "Alright, I'll help you just once."

Blue nodded at her, looking up once more at the towering creature as it screeched down at them; enraged by their continued survival and opposition. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Xaxa hopped across the pillars to a large central platform beneath the City of The Ancients. There stood another man looking down upon the water below, curiously studying the thin traces of lifestream energy flowing within the clear and sacred waters.

The man wore a similar poncho except his was dark green, purple eyes shone from under the hood. His face was handsome yet hardened from years of combat; there was a jagged purple tattoo down the right side of his face and a piercing just above his left eye.

Xaxa chuckled as he adjusted the skull mask upon his face, addressing the hooded man. "Well, Boss. Hikrai's close to taking down the Calavera Segadora. It looks like he's teamed up with that treasure hunter buzzing around too."

PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin grinned widely. A deep laugh came from him as he turned to face his subordinate… "So they come right to us as predicted."

Xaxa's grin was certainly concerning with the delight in it, matched by the ominous red eyes of his mask. But PoH's wide grin was on a different level. Maniacal, eager for bloodshed, he lived for inflicting suffering. "Shall we move out?" Xaxa said, looking for the go ahead.

PoH's response came just as enthusiastic as the expression on his face, loud and overwhelming like the rapid firing of a machine gun:

"It's Showtime!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes :**

Note 1: So Uhhh...11 months since the last update. Hah…let me tell you a tale….Iiiiii don't have anything for this. It was personal stuff that made it difficult to focus on or even enjoy the idea of writing. It's more or less resolved though so hopefully I can finally get to consistent updates, but hey: if you're a long-time reader then this is actually a much better hiatus than the last one.

Note 2: Calavera Segadora is based upon The Skull Reaper from Sword Art Online. Hopefully that translation is correct. I got it from Spanish fan subs so I'm inclined to believe it is, but apologies if not. The reason for the usage of the Spanish name is I have mixed in elements of the Hollows from Bleach into its nature, as evident by its usage of the Cero technique.

Note 3: So I'm not exactly sure what the general belief of fans is when it comes to Cait Sith's nature. Obviously Reeve controls him a lot throughout FF7 but I've always felt like there's also a clear sign of an actual independent artificial intelligence there too for when Reeve isn't operating him. So that's what we're going with.

Note 4: The Turk brought back as an undead monster is not one of the canon Turks from Before Crisis. It's an OC but we'll get back to this another day when we delve further in to that plot point.

Note 5: The character Blue encounters is based upon Philia from Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, the first game in the "gameverse" alternate timeline of that series.

Okay then, one more flashback chapter to come. See you all in a year's time. I kid, see you soon…probably.


	8. Chapter 7: Limit Break

**Chapter 7: Limit Break**

The remaining scythe-arm of the Calavera Segadora swung horizontally at them. Blue's sword was swung forward to block. The monster may have been damaged and weakened but it still had enough force that the impact pushed him back. His shoes pushed up mud beneath his feet as he managed to keep standing; knees shaking from the strain.

His reluctant ally took the opportunity to jump up onto the arm, springing off it again the moment one foot touched down. An aura of energy surrounded the blade of her dagger. She swung upwards; carving deep through the damaged skull. It reared back; roaring in agony. Her feet kicked off from the body of the creature to flip back and land back on solid ground.

It began to move but Blue wasn't prepared to let it gain any advantage over them. He ran forward and swung his blade at a leg on its right side, cleaving through the cracks and severing it with ease. The Calavera Segadora stumbled in its movements, enough of a distraction for Blue to reverse his grip on his sword and run alongside it cutting its side as he moved.

The tail lashed out in a frenzy, slamming into him and knocking him to the ground. He was pushing his luck. The monster moved two of its many legs still remaining to rise above him.

The young woman came running up just as fast as he had prior, her sword breaker dagger slashing through the two legs. The slash severing them and the impact making them move aside and just narrowly avoid stabbing down into the game master.

Her surprising defence of him left her vulnerable to the swing of a scythe-arm. Her own inherent energy protecting her from being cut in two but not enough to prevent the force of the impact launching her off her feet and into a tree.

The bark splintered and cracked, the trunk splitting as the top half fell and she along with it.

Blue had already moved himself out from under the creature. He could see in the corner of his eyes that his ally was already pushing herself up from the ground; disoriented and winded but alive.

It was focused on her, Blue left alone in the blind-spot on its left side thanks to the damaged head.

Crimson energy manifested before it once more, its gaze focused on her. There was an advantage of attack for him but that didn't matter right now. He put all his might into running right towards her.

The energy attack fired off once more at them, Blue skidded to a halt in-between the dazed warrior and the energy. His 'Rage Spike' Technique activated as he stabbed the blade up at the energy with his own.

For a moment he held it there; energy breaking off of the attack. It overpowered his and slammed into him full force. He was thrown back against a crystal tree, breathing out sharply as the impact shook his body.

The scythe-arm was already coming for him. Instincts guided him to fight through the pain as he stabbed the sword higher up into the tree and pulled himself up.

The scythe just narrowly swung underneath him and cut through the tree. As the tree toppled to the ground, Blue stood up on it and pulled free his sword; jumping off it just before it hit the ground.

With his free hand he rubbed the sword wielding arm; wincing a little at how strained he already felt from the force of this creature. Despite this he tightened his grip on the hilt of the blade. The young woman stepped up besides him again; readying her own dagger.

"We can't push our luck," she said to him. "We have to end this in our next combined assault." It wasn't a request, it wasn't even a hope. It was a simple fact and Blue knew she was right, if they failed to kill it soon then damage or no…it was going to catch them off-guard.

Calavera Segadora's head tilted slightly, bones creaking as it lowered its posture. It was almost like an animal sizing up its prey. Whatever it was, it was smart enough to know that it had been damaged enough that it couldn't risk any rush decisions.

Blue raised his sword, it may not have been rushing them but he knew they couldn't dawdle for much longer. "We both channel energy through our weapons, so together we might counter with enough force to give ourselves a large enough opportunity."

She nodded in agreement, "I'm ready."

Low hisses came from the creature, they decided to make the first move and provoke it.

Both ran together towards it, the light of energy already coating their respective blades. Even on broken legs it managed to spring towards them and swung its scythe-arm diagonally down at them.

Blue's blade met it first, a resounding clash of steel meeting bone. He pushed against the dirt beneath his feet again; yelling out as he put his back into pushing back the beast. His ally's dagger swung up and slammed against the scythe-arm.

The extra addition of power pushed back the arm and together the two followed up with another powered-up swing of sword and dagger. The simultaneous impacts forced its arm right back; cracks spreading throughout it.

Blue stepped forward and slashed at its body, then the young woman, then Blue again. They kept up the offensive, alternating their attacks. The creature reared back, disoriented and overwhelmed from the combined assault.

Its arm began to swing forward again; Blue clenched his teeth and jumped up towards the skull. Energy covered the blade as he concentrated on pulling off another imagined technique. _Vertical Arc._ His sword swung down diagonally at the creature's right shoulder.

He yelled out as the blade began to carve through the bone, putting all his might into pushing down further and further. He reached the middle of the creature's chest and re-adjusted his wrist and grip on the blade, pushing himself up off one of the bone legs as he moved into the air again. The energy flickered for a moment before he dragged the sword up in another diagonal motion; now from the middle to what remained of the creature's left shoulder.

He pulled the blade out and fell, but not without leaving his mark. A deep v shaped cut carved through the upper body.

Its arm snapped off under the strain of the damage, stabbing into the ground and falling. Crimson light flickered before the creature's mouth; unstable.

The dagger wielder jumped up next. Energy covered her own blade before she brought it down upon the skull. The dagger stabbed deep into the bone and the energy burst out within the already cracked demonic skull of the creature.

It let out its most inhuman screech yet as cracks spread throughout its entire body; crumbling bit by bit into dust. The red glow of its eyes faded until there was nothing but a vacant darkness left behind in the sockets.

She landed safely upon the ground as the Calavera Segadora finally crumbled away into dust and scattered into the wind.

Deep breaths were all Blue could manage as he desperately tried to settle back down after the intensity of such a life-threatening fight. Pushing the energy for a two-hit combo was a lot harder on his current skill level than he had anticipated.

He glanced up at his skilled but wary ally to see if she was okay. She seemed to be but his eyes fell upon how she still kept a tight grip on her weapon, her own gaze studying him.

He sighed and stood upright. He wasn't going to be reckless and sheath the blade away but he did lower the blade, his posture more relaxed as he decided to attempt gaining trust. "Now I know we weren't off to a good start," he said to her as warmly as he could manage in the tense atmosphere between them. "But I'd really prefer not to be fighting you if possible."

Her expression softened, eyes opening up a little in surprise as even her own posture relaxed slightly. Another glance over him led to narrowed eyes once more. "You're really not one of them?"

"If you really do mean Laughing Coffin then that's correct, I'm here to stop them and I think it's safe to say you're not with them either."

"You're willing to just have faith that I won't strike you down? I did come at you with killing intent."

"Yeah, I did notice."

Her dagger lowered too, she didn't put away her weapon either but her shoulders loosened up and her stance relaxed further. "Well I'm not looking for any more encounters with them, so I guess this is goodbye. Thanks for helping me out there."

She began to take steps off to the side, cautious enough to not turn her back just yet. Blue held his free hand out and called out, "wait a second, do you even know which way to go?"

She stopped in her tracks and opened her mouth only to say nothing. She observed her surroundings and then frowned.

Blue sighed; it was exactly as he had thought. She was running from Laughing Coffin and then ran into him and this monster so of course she would have lost her bearings. He wouldn't be in a much better situation, he had played the game enough that he was sure he'd recognise certain landmarks…but as for actual directions to head in?

"Okay, here goes. I didn't come alone; I have a group of this world's heroes with me to help take them down but I got separated. Neither of us will be safe going alone so why don't we work together to get away from them and find my friends?"

"This world's heroes" she repeated in a murmur, studying his appearance more intently then before. "Who exactly are you?"

He paused for a moment, was it wise to really hand his name out freely to a complete stranger? Probably not, but how could he expect any form of trust and safety alongside this newfound ally if he didn't offer it first? "My name is Blue Hikrai."

She faced him with not a shred of hostile intention left, her blade down at her side as she stood more relaxed. However she still seemed puzzled as she looked at him. "At this point it's safe to say you're genuine," she said before glancing at her own weapon. "But can you really be sure about me?"

Blue nervously rubbed at the back of his head, smiling all the same. "Well you put your life on the line to fight alongside me against that monster, in a world like this I'd like to think that's enough."

"…Philia."

"Huh?"

"My name is Philia."

"Well then, despite the situation: It's nice to meet you, Philia."

Despite herself she let out a small laugh, Blue looked at her puzzled at the reaction. "It's nothing; I just can't work out if you're really friendly or really stupid."

That brought a frown to his face before he too couldn't hold back a small laugh "Well personally I'd like to think I'm a good judge of character."

* * *

Blue and Philia had ended up choosing the direction that seemed the least damaged. Getting up the steep incline he had come down via the monster would've been impossible so at the very least they could try and find the normal path back to the Sleeping Forest and hopefully run into the group on the way.

The biggest concern to Blue was that going by what he remembered from the game and the movie was that these white crystal-like trees were found dangerously close to the city itself.

This ethereal forest seemed to offer no sounds of wildlife no matter how much he focused his senses on his surroundings. Likely they were scared off from the stampeding monstrosity they had fought off, he could at least hope that meant no local monsters to deal with.

This deep in the valley, the sun's rays were already barely breaking through the fauna. With how much it had set by now, the growing darkness did not help the tension. The only real light source was the white/silver glow of the crystal trees.

The two moved at a unified side-by-side pace, not enough trust yet to leave their back unguarded. "So you said 'this world's heroes,'" Philia broke the silence, "what exactly brought you here?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out honestly. It was some mysterious figure but I don't know what their deal is." Blue paused in his explanation as he glanced over at her, "seems fair if I ask the same in return. You're clearly not of this world either, so what brings you here?"

"Treasure Hunter."

"And you came to the city of the ancients? Didn't think tales of the Cetra or anything about this world spread out to the rest of the verse?"

Philia motioned for them to hold position for a moment as she peered about their surroundings, fingers flexing their grip on her weapon. Moments later she breathed a sigh of relief at not seeing anything and the two continued on their way. "It's not often but this world does get other visitors, that and people pick up knowledge from more spiritual entities like Espers or what this world calls Summons."

She sighed again, "It's just a shame it's impossible to get onto that island in the north east."

"Round Island?"

"Is that what you know it as? The name given to me was Angelgard." Philia's eyes could only be described by Blue as sparkling with delight the more she spoke on the subject.

"Huh, well that's interesting news to me. So what exactly are you looking for?"

In a rare moment of casual behaviour with him, she rubbed the back of her head and gave a small smile "honestly? Just the thrill of finding treasure is what I'm in it for. But I am trying to see if I can be one of the first to discover treasure from the era of the Chaos Lord."

"The Chaos Lord?"

"I don't know much but legends speak of a being that turned against the will of the Gods. They may have been stopped but it didn't stop a legacy of chaos to follow."

There was almost a bounce in her step as she continued to rattle on, a noticeable excitement to her tone of voice. "Ah~ If I could just find anything from that era, that would be perfect." She glanced over at Blue only to see him smiling at her. The sparkle in her eyes quickly faded. "What?"

"Sorry, just enjoying this side of you compared to attacking me earlier."

"Well if you're going to mock me."

"No mocking here, I think it's nice. So you're looking at any ancient civilisation you can and seeing if you get closer?"

"I don't really have an idea of how far back that era was. Don't even know of the names of the main two kingdoms. Best information I have is that there was also a war of key shaped weapons and something about 'The Islands of Zeal.'"

"Wish I could help but that sounds like a mystery to me." That wasn't entirely true, key shaped weapons sounded to Blue like the Keyblades of Kingdom Hearts, but he didn't feel like vague ideas would be beneficial in this situation.

Their travel continued in resumed silence with the exception of their steps across the dirt and rocky paths. It left time for Blue to dwell on her words. Yagami had told him he had a role to play, made him sound like he was a warrior, a weapon. Laughing Coffin had come here for him. Now here he was hearing about something powerful enough to be known in history as 'The Chaos Lord'.

There was no way this was a coincidence. Whatever this Chaos Lord was, whatever its legacy was, it was clear to Blue already that his role would intersect with this eventually. Try as he might he could not think of why Round Island held another name off-world. The only purpose of that island was to be where players of the game would gain an optional summon known as: Knights of The Round.

There was no story relevance for it, so would something like that actually have existed here in reality? Was there actually a deeper purpose to it in reality? Had Cloud and the others already collected it? So many possibilities flooded his mind but brought him no closer to any idea.

A war of Keyblades brought him no joy either. There was a legend about how its wielder could either save a world or bring its destruction but this was his first time hearing information on a war. He supposed this situation was merciful to him in that Chad or one of his roleplay friends wasn't here, addicted enough to have probably gone on an hour-at minimum-essay on the topic.

Blue gazed around his surroundings, trying not to think on topics that he really wasn't in a position to figure out. A glance to the side and he grabbed at Philia's arm to stop them both in their tracks abruptly.

She only just stopped herself from letting out a yell, and from swinging her dagger back. She followed his gaze to the forest as a thin thread of green energy slowly flowed out and across the path they were walking ahead of them, "what is that?"

"It's this planet's spirit, its life force: The Lifestream," Blue explained, curiously studying the phenomena. "There must be a Mako spring nearby for it to flow around like this. Then again this is the city of the ancients and we are close to the Northern Crater."

She didn't understand the danger of touching it; he just motioned for her to stay where they were. "Just wait for it to pass. It's also a collective of memories. We don't want to-"

" _Hikrai._ "

He froze at the sound of his name being called out.

" _Hikrai."_

It was coming from the lifestream strand, like a mental thought being projected out. Philia was still staring at him, waiting for him to finish. She couldn't hear it?

" _If it's a fight you want then I hope you brought a better class of soldier than basic troops."_

Wait, but that was his voice? Blue reached his hand out towards the strand. It felt like a calling, why was it calling his name? Why was he hearing his own voice?

Philia called out his name but his fingers pushed into the flowing energy as simply as holding a hand under the flowing water of a tap. For but a moment he felt memories not his own. He saw through eyes not his own and yet the reflection they looked at was unmistakably his. A more stern expression from a different life of combat, wearing clothes suited for a warrior; a mercenary…but it was without a doubt his own face.

Philia's hand yanked Blue back away from the energy; he took a deep breath from the sudden snap back to reality. "What the hell?! You go and warn me and then just dip your fingers in!"

Blue rubbed his head, a throbbing headache already reverberating from the feeling of a conflicting memory to his own. He hissed slightly in pain before looking at his newfound comrade apologetically "Sorry, something felt off."

She sighed and crossed her arms, studying him again like she had before. "I'm starting to lean towards 'really stupid' after all."

Blue wondered if he should give back some kind of witty retort but settled for just watching the lifestream energy continue to flow on its way down the path.

…down the path they had been following. But if lifestream energy was gathering at a point nearby, then that would've meant…

"Philia…we need to turn around and move fast."

The realisation hit Blue harder then the headache, they had been walking TOWARDS the city of the ancients. Philia took quick sharp glances at their surroundings and pulled up her dagger, "too late."

Two cloaked figures leapt down from the trees, Blue and Philia both swung up to block as their weapons clashed against the blades of two Laughing Coffin members clad in similar hooded ponchos to the members Blue had already encountered.

"Wow, what luck that you just come right to us!"

Blue and Philia pushed back, the assassins jumped back and took up ready stances once again. "Oh the boss is definitely going to be happy with us."

"They reward failure where you're from?" Philia shot back.

They weren't as keen on her humour as she was; rushing them and separating so one focused on her while the other focused on Blue.

Their swords clashed repeatedly as Blue pushed his body to match the pace, focusing on defence and warding off each strike. This was different to any other fight he had so far. Sword training with Cloud had been just that: training. The fight with the monster was dealing with bestial instinct. Even fighting Philia was different in that her violent attacks were more a desperate need to survive.

This however was intentional killing instinct. This was a desire to take his life for nothing more than the thrill of it. In the corner of his vision he could see Philia was equally on the defensive. No, she was waiting for an opening but she was prepared and experienced in this type of situation. As he pushed to the side another swing he knew that he wasn't prepared for this sensation.

He pushed Philia's fight out of his mind, she could take of herself. He tried to keep a clear mind even as the manic and unnecessary laughter of his opponent kept unnerving him.

There wasn't any rhythmic flow or style to the swings of his opponent. Erratic swings and slashes from different angles with little care and thought put behind them. For a truly experienced swordsman there were probably multiple opportunities to take advantage of. For now Blue could only keep swinging his sword up to block again and again.

"Show me your blood!"

The madman's sword swung down hard, Blue side-stepped it just in time and pulled his sword up, "yours first." He forced himself to swing his sword down at his opponent's wrist.

The laughing coffin member pulled back with a scream, his blade dropping loudly to the floor, with a hand still holding it, as he clutched his stump of a wrist tightly. Blue tried to keep his gaze on him even as the flow of blood made that difficult to stomach. "You can't win, just give up now."

An orange glow emerged from the killer's free hand, muffled screams of pain as he bit his lip while fire magic flowed from that hand, painfully cauterising the wound. The wound Blue inflicted didn't seem so off-putting to him now in comparison.

The pain didn't stop the battle either, the killer pulling out a dagger and lunging at the game master with it. Blue quickly moved back but his startled reaction wasn't fast enough to avoid the small blade completely, his arm cut while he then swung out with his own sword to ward the attacker back.

"I can't win?" the assassin said with far too wide of a grin for Blue to feel comfortable at seeing. His injured arm was hanging at his side while the other hand twirled the dagger about as he made slow steps towards Blue. "There's only one way this fight ends and you've just proven you don't have the nerve for it."

The dagger swung and stabbed at Blue again and again, he tried to dodge and deflect but the killer moved with pain-enhanced adrenaline. Every attack Blue made was held back; hesitant to inflict lethal harm. His opponent did not share the same reluctance.

The battle turned, another cut at his arm, a light slash catching his leg, narrowly avoiding a slash at his stomach leaving another tear in his clothing.

Blue's breathing had grown more panicked, "stop," even that came out more as pleading rather then demanding. A startled swing caught his opponent off guard enough to leave a deep cut across his chest but that just seemed to push him further on in his attacks.

A scream of pain momentarily distracted the two as they saw Philia's dagger stab into the other Laughing Coffin member. There was no enjoyment in her action of taking a life but no hesitation either; she already had experience in these situations.

Blue's opponent began to turn from him, smirking as he looked at Philia's unguarded back while her weapon was lodged into her own opponent. "Wide. Open."

Instinct took the reins. Blue lifted his sword, surrounding it in energy. There was no choice, he meant what he said: he was going to stop them killing anyone else.

Before the Laughing Coffin member could make a single step towards Philia, Blue's energy coated sword swung down diagonally and cut him down.

The body fell, blood staining his rags for clothing. The young game master stared at it; eyes shaking as he watched it twitch for a few more moments before stopping. His trembling vision moved to his blade now coated in blood. His heart was beating fast, a ringing in his ears, his breathing hyperventilating. His shaking hand tried to let go of his own sword but his fingers remained tightly locked on the hilt.

Philia was calling his name; she might as well have been an echo on the wind to his senses right now. His free hand; also shaking, tried to pry open his fingers but whatever strength he had had faded. "I-" Blue stuttered out as he raised that shaking free hand in front of his face before it held onto his head, desperately trying to steady himself somehow. "-I killed someone."

Philia stood in front of him, her hands on his shoulders as she tried to help steady him. She looked understanding and concerned for him but he couldn't fully register that, he couldn't focus on looking her in the eyes. "Blue, it's okay, you're okay."

"I killed someone."

"I know, I understand but we have to move right now."

"I just swung my sword and-"

Philia's eyes went wide and her body went limp against his before falling to the floor, a small dart sticking out of her neck. "Phi-" a sharp prick at his neck cut him off from finishing speaking. His own strength left him as he collapsed to his knees and then to the floor completely.

As the paralysis took hold, as his vision began to fade, he could see more laughing coffin members approach. With complete reluctance his eyes closed and he passed out.

* * *

He couldn't move, couldn't place how much time had passed. But at the very least he was conscious again. He could hear the joyous tones of rough voices talking around him.

Weakly his eyes began to open, halfway as he tried to feign continued sleep while observing his surroundings. He was lying on dirt ground still, Philia was in front of him; her own eyes half open as she had the same idea as him.

When their vision met he saw the relief pass through her expression, he felt the same way when he could see nothing had happened to her.

"Well, finally awake huh? Sit them up."

Rough hands yanked the two of them into a sitting up position and forced them to look ahead. Blue recognised his surroundings now. They were deep in the city of the ancients; crystal white trees all around them while they looked towards the lake in front of them and the large shell like building. This was the area where Aerith Gainsborough had been laid to rest. Blue's sword was stabbed into the dirt near the lake.

Standing between them and the lake was PoH with Xaxa on his left side and Johnny Black on his right. "We must thank you, Blue Hikrai…for making this so easy for us. Feel free to talk, the paralysis should've worn off by that much at least."

"I'm not complaining and I'm sure I won't like the answer," Philia said while Blue silently stared down their abductors. "But why aren't we dead yet?"

"Our contract requests Hikrai to be broken before he dies and who are we to pass up the chance for some torture?"

Philia stayed silent, Blue hoped she was coming up with an idea for escape or stalling for time…because his thoughts were still all over the place. He at least could try and get some kind of answers though. "Who hired you?"

"Didn't say," PoH crouched down to stare down Blue at eye-level. Every encounter with this group had unnerved Blue…but there was something disturbingly dark about their leader's smile and eyes; as if looking into the eyes of a demon. "But he knew all about me and that's enough to stir my curiosity."

"And you are who exactly?"

"PoH, as in: Prince of Hell, but if you want an actual name, kid. Vassago."

Blue stayed silent again with the exception of gasping when Vassago's hand suddenly lashed out and grabbed his head by his hair pulling him closer as he looked over him. "I just can't figure it out. What exactly is the big deal about a Game Master?"

A fist slammed against his stomach, Blue hunched over in pain before being pulled back up to face him. In a daze he could faintly hear Philia call out his name in worry; hear her straining against the paralysis.

Every attempt of his own to move his arms was unsuccessful. They hung limply by his side, his entire body feeling numb; pins and needles like sensation flowing through him.

His eyes still trembled with fear from his actions and the certainty of death approaching yet his mind couldn't even dwell on that fact, racing from thought to thought in a panic. "Well, no matter. We'll see exactly what you can handle. Xaxa! wound the planet."

Xaxa's right hand placed down firmly on the ground by the lake. The crimson eyepieces of Xaxa's skull mask began to glow. The same crimson energy the Calavera Segadora manifested sparked out from his palm, "Cero!"

The very earth beneath their feet began to shake, the pressure of the energy lifting small pieces of dirt and rock into the air around his arm. Cracks spread throughout the ground around him as crimson energy began to carve into the ground; searing it.

An explosive force of crimson coloured energy erupted around Xaxa. When the blast subsided there was a small crater left behind, water beginning to fill it. Xaxa jumped up out of the damage he had left behind and looked back down to it.

Within the water were strands of the lifestream; attempting repairs to the planet from the damage brought on by the strong spiritual power of the attack.

Vassago began to drag the paralyzed Blue across the ground to the crater. Still Blue's body refused to budge, he heard Philia's name call out to him in a panic but couldn't even manage to tilt his head to look. "What are you…doing?"

"Like I said, we'll see what you can handle." Vassago held Blue forward over the crater, forcing him to look down to the water filling it and the lifestream within. "You know what this is, don't you?"

"Y…you can't."

"This planet is crying out in agony; think you can remain sane in that?" Vassago released Blue, dropping him into the water and towards the flowing strands of the lifestream.

He couldn't breath, he was drowning but not in the water. The lifestream flowed around him. Particles of energy filled his vision. Every second felt like his very existence was being thrown around as if he was pulled into the rapids of a river. Incomprehensible whispers and screams were all around him.

Here in the lifestream his spirit could move, Blue's hands gripped the sides of his head as he screamed out. There was no escape from the sounds of so many voices crying out all around him. Their memories filling his mind as the collective will of the planet overwhelmed every sense in his body, his entire soul.

There were just too many voices, too many memories, impossible to decipher any meaning to any of them with how endless the cacophony seemed.

 _Blue Hikrai, my name is Blue Hikrai. I'm Blue Hikrai._ His thoughts desperately tried to cling to his identity, to hold onto his individual existence.

In trying so hard to hold onto a sense of individuality, the mass of memories thinned temporarily to just one. The energy began to fade, the view replaced with that of a town, the town of Nibelheim; Cloud and Tifa's hometown.

Blue caught a glimpse of his reflection, his own face once again but younger, maybe around the age of nine if he was to guess?

" _They're all immature."_

Blue felt no control as his body turned to look to his right, a young Cloud Strife besides him staring at a bunch of other laughing children.

" _My family leaves town tomorrow, Cloud."_ Blue heard his own young voice say.

 _This isn't right. This is fiction._

" _I'm fine alone."_

" _Cloud, we're friends. Can't say close as I'd like 'cause wow you make it hard. Tifa's not gonna stop hanging with them you know."_

The scene changed abruptly, this young Blue now talking with a young Tifa before leaving. A change again, now training with a sword. Then memories of becoming a mercenary and travelling, finding work in Midgar and elsewhere in the world. Memories flowed by one after another, overwhelming Blue's mind more and more with a conflict of identity.

The basic frame of the memories was familiar to him. Ideas he had imagined for a character version of him to exist upon this world. But there were many details, many memories that had never been imagined by him.

 _Did it all really happen? Does another me exist here?_

The onslaught of memories slowed again, this version of him, now older, stood in front of a Turk, a Turk that shared Chad's appearance. _"I'm willing to pay you everything up front if you're actually as good as you claim."_

" _Find out yourself; I'll let you take the first shot. See how that goes. I'm not doing any work for Shinra."_

" _This isn't for Shinra."_

Another vivid memory change, this version of him stood facing down a group of basic Shinra troops; only the design on their uniforms bore the emblem of Deepground instead. This Blue was smirking at them as he held his sword at the ready. _"If it's a fight you want then I hope you brought a better class of soldier than basic troops."_

Once more the memory shifted to another scene. Flames all around him as the town of Nibelheim burned. Even here in a memory not his own he could feel the humidity in the air, the hairs on his arm singed as he moved away from the flames while desperately trying to find someone, anyone that he could save.

Something moved behind him. He turned and a long sword stabbed through his shoulder. Blue's memory counterpart yelled out in pain…but Blue himself screamed. The sword known as the Masamune slowly lifted him into the air. His attacker's long silver hair flowed down his back, his black coat untouched by the flames and blood throughout the town.

Blue couldn't breathe once again, his breath catching each time he tried. The silver haired man seemed more out of place than blue himself with how untarnished he was from the carnage all around. His head began to rise up. All Blue could do was hold the sword to try and stop his body moving on the blade impaling him.

There was seemingly no wound, no blood for certain. But the pain was there. His very existence accepted the concept that this weapon had stabbed into him. "Is this the pain you wrote of?"

His voice didn't carry the same echo the other memories shared. There were no lingering traces of whispers in the background, of the rest of the lifestream still trying to break through. "Is this what you imagined it would be?"

Blue tried to pull himself away only to yell in pain again as the sword dug in further. Something was wrong, this was too vivid. The scenery began to fade back to the lifestream all around him… except the silver haired man still was there holding him up.

Green cat-like eyes, glowing ethereally bright with mako energy, stared up at Blue. Amused and curious in how they looked at him. Blue couldn't stop his body shivering as he stared back unblinking in fear at the enemy of this entire world: Sephiroth.

"How curious your existence is, Game Master."

"You're… aware?"

"Your very presence reawakens my will. Interesting, what is it about you that my mother's cells react to? What is this term that flows through my thoughts: Velber?"

The presence of the lifestream began to seep its way into Blue again, Sephiroth seemed to flicker in and out of existence as Blue phased through his sword and fell to his knees. "Time's up it would seem." Black strands of lifestream energy began to seep away from the form of Sephiroth. "Tell Cloud I look forward to our reunion."

Sephiroth faded away into the lifestream but just as the onslaught of collective souls was about to overwhelm Blue again…he felt it subside.

The sensation of a single drop of water, one soul stood so strong in the current that it kept his focus away from the raging storm that was the rest of the lifestream.

" _You're going to be okay."_ The woman's voice was all around him, soothing and calming. The lifestream was all around him, flowing wildly…and yet this one soul helped keep his mind serene, helped him hold onto who he was.

"You're…Aerith?"

" _You can break free of this. The Game Masters are entrusted with the power of The Azure. The very essence of the universe itself, all you need is the will, the resolve to change fate. You need to remain determined."_

"I can't do it, it's too much!"

" _All life is connected. Reach out for help and someone will surely guide you."_

"It's no use! I'm not like Cloud and the others, I've hit my limit."

"Hit your limit?!" A rougher masculine voice startled Blue as he felt the presence of another soul reaching out to him. "I taught you better than that, there's no such thing."

A figure began to materialise in the lifestream before Blue, transparent and ethereal yet not a hallucination. His back was to him but Blue recognised that black yet greying hair, that body build and the martial arts gi worn over it. Its presence wasn't the same feeling as Aerith's. Her soul was connected and a part of the entirety of the lifestream yet held enough strength to stand out.

This presence stood out in isolation, separate from this world's life-stream. It was a living soul breaking through barriers of life and death and even dimensions, "M…Master?"

"Stand up and fight, Blue Hikrai."

"This can't be real; I'm not really talking to you."

"So you're just going to let yourself go mad? Give up?"

"What else can I do?! This is too much, I can't get through the lifestream and even if I do, what then? I can't stop them and even if I could, I'll just have to kill again!"

Blue breathed out heavily in the aftermath of his venting, waiting for scolding or a lecture from his master for his confession. He was only met with silence long enough for him to start up again "That's right, I killed someone. A week in this universe and I'm already a murderer! This is all your failure of a pupil can amount to."

"Rise above this. You fought to survive, you fought to protect another. Now fight. Defy anyone who would tell you what you can't do, even yourself."

"…I don't deserve this kind of support."

"If that was true, you wouldn't have been blessed with The Azure."

Whether this was a hallucination or a miracle across dimensions, he still couldn't be sure. Whatever it was it was starting to fade away. The image of his master was flickering and the presence of the lifestream was cracking through like a river about to break through a dam.

"Let the power of The Azure flow through you; let it unlock what you were always meant for. Start like I've always taught you: A serene state of mind."

Blue closed his eyes, breathed in deeply and began to try and relax. The souls of the lifestream were calling, crying out. "Your soul must be unobstructed like a mirror and tranquil like water after a storm."

The many voices of the lifestream began to flow but they did not overwhelm him this time. He floated there in the middle of this storm. A raging flow all around him and yet he remained independent. He could feel his own state of being as strong as Aerith's presence, as strong as his master's. The sound of each of their souls ringing through his mind like individual drops of water amidst the torrential flood around him.

"I see it: each drop of water."

He reached his senses out further and began to sense the living souls around his body. The members of laughing coffin, Philia, the approaching group of Iris, Cloud, Tifa and the others. Every one of them standing out like single drops.

"Now show them what you can do. Rise like the sun at dawn and grasp victory!"

"Master...if this is real, if you know all this…then who are you really?"

A chuckle came first in reply, "You'll get the full story one day." For but a moment Blue saw the image of his master ripple like the surface of a pond, and he was positive his master looked closer to his own age and had a different outfit covered by a red cloak and a red headband. It was familiar but he couldn't place it. "There are no coincidences in this life, Blue. It's time to fight, ready? GO!"

He yelled it like a command and Blue felt Aerith's presence tug at his soul like a safety rope. He did more than let it pull him; he followed it of his own movement.

Little by little he flowed through the lifestream until it began to fade. The sensation of his body began to return to him, actual water beginning to fill up around him. Aerith's presence reached out with him, the paralysis fading away from him through her own healing capabilities _"Don't give up, just like they wouldn't. Good luck."_

* * *

Vassago held Philia by the back of her head, slamming her down onto the ground as he sighed in boredom "Guess he's really not coming back up, huh?" She didn't answer him, part of her trying to fight the paralysis and another part of her not seeing any way out of this situation. "Not going to answer me?" He slammed her down again "Didn't your parents teach you any better?"

She didn't give him an answer again, he groaned out in disappointment as he picked her up, "how boring, I was hoping for a better reaction, a little more feminine with sobbing and begging." His free hand called a large rectangular shaped blade to his hand, a Chinese kitchen knife like weapon.

The edge of the weapon touched at her neck, tears coming to her closed eyes as she felt the cold steel against her flesh. This was it; there was no avoiding that fact now.

A rush of water burst out of the pit, a figure thrown out by it grabbing his sword on the way. Vassago released his grip on Philia and stepped back as a sword swung through the air in-between them, cutting at the fabric of his poncho and just narrowly missing cutting the arm off. Philia felt a hand push her back further away from the killer while her shocked eyes opened to see another sword swing force Vassago to jump back further.

Time seemed to slow as she looked at a drenched Blue standing there with his sword at the ready. She fell to her knees and looked up at him "You're…okay?"

"Jeez, I'm really not right for this hero type of role. Glad you're okay, Philia."

Every member of Laughing Coffin stood at the ready around them, waiting for their boss's order. Vassago for his part just stared wide-eyed at blue "You actually managed to get out of that?"

"No matter how you beat me down, I'm still going to stand back up." Blue particles of light began to flicker around Blue, an aura of starlight.

Vassago's eyes darted around to gaze at them, recognition flickering in his gaze as he lifted up his free hand "Let's put your confidence to the test. Burn him!"

Five killers reached out their hands, fire magic beginning to form in their palms.

"Philia, stay back!"

Five fire spells launched at him and seemingly covered the spot he stood in a tornado of fire. Blue could be heard yelling out and yet it was not one of pain.

Gaps in the fire revealed how he stood in the eye of the storm, the flames circling around him but not touching him. The flames began to spin faster and faster until the tornado itself burst away from him. The flames moved as if guided, blasting back into their own casters and throwing them back.

The light of the Azure had grown in intensity around Blue, Vassago grit his teeth "element manipulation I see."

With newfound resolve, Blue charged forward towards him. His sword swapped to his left hand so that his right hand could then begin to pull back, clenching into a fist. "Jigen Haō School!" Green energy began to surround that fist, the air itself constricting around it; wind flowing like a localised gale around it. "Shippu-Zuki!"

His fist punched forward, Vassago's blade raised to block it with the flat side. The fist carried the force of pressurised air itself. Vassago was unprepared for the sudden might and his body was launched into the air and back, it crashed through a tree and tumbled to the ground.

The wind carried the particles of azure starlight into the air and scattered them, every member of laughing coffin could only stare in shock at their boss's groaning body on the ground.

Blue's feet began to pivot, turning 180 degrees on the spot as he turned his attention to Philia who had got to her feet with the paralysis finally fading. Already he broke into a sprint towards her, "Philia! Run!"

She nodded in a daze, turning and running away from the city with Blue following her.

Vassago groaned and began to push himself up, "What are you fools waiting for? After them."

One laughing coffin member began to approach their fallen leader "Uhhh Boss, are you okay?"

Vassago's weapon swung up at his neck.

* * *

He could still faintly sense traces of their souls from his exposure to the lifestream; he knew what direction to keep having the two of them run in. His body ached already, refusing to acknowledge limits as he sprinted more than he ever had in his life.

The rush of many foot-steps and the movement of branches and leaves had Blue and Philia look over their shoulder. Laughing Coffin was already in pursuit. Some sprinted across the ground; others took to jumping their way across branches.

The corner of his vision caught a few paralysis darts being fired, small gusts of wind were called upon by him in retaliation and it was enough to deflect the small objects away from them.

They were gaining on them, their bodies were too well trained and so had much more to give then Blue and Philia. Blue glanced over his shoulder again. One was catching up on Blue fast, leaning forward as he ran close to the ground, two daggers held reverse-grip in his hands.

Blue lifted his sword, the image of the one he killed passed through his mind but his resolve pushed through the fear.

He side-stepped while moving, a dagger passed by and cut the side of his top as well as leaving a light cut against the side of his body.

Blue swung his sword down at his attacker already manoeuvring out of the way. He kept up the offensive forcing the dagger wielder to keep deflecting the blade.

Blue slowed the pace of his movements. As his sword bounced away from the dagger he allowed his body to spin away with the momentum.

A dagger stabbed towards his back. The ground underneath his feet shifted forward slightly at Blue's command. It was enough to make the laughing coffin member slip and stumble backwards.

Blue continued his turn, spinning to face his would-be killer once more. Blue's sword lifted up, energy coating the blade once again. His eyes shook in their unease however his blade still swung down diagonally and found its mark.

His second kill dropped to the ground cut down, he gave it a moment's glance before turning to continue moving on, catching sight of Philia intercepting one dropping from the trees and stabbing him with her dagger.

 _We can do this; we can get to Cloud and the others in time._

The moment the hopeful thought crossed his mind was the moment a sound like a brief burst of static happened before them and Xaxa flickered into view, his body skidding to a halt as though he had sped to that spot faster then their eyes could see.

"You've made this fun but the chase ends here."

Blue and Philia stood back to back, Blue keeping an eye on Xaxa while Philia kept watch of the approaching laughing coffin members.

The killers moved aside to allow Vassago to walk up, grinning widely as he tightened his grip on his weapon's handle, the blade covered in blood. "Did you think you were fast enough to get away?"

Blue looked over his shoulder at the leader. He couldn't come up with much of a comeback at this point so was about to settle for just simply swearing at him…when a red cloak moving in the darkness of the forest nearby caught his eye.

Relief turned to confidence as he smiled back at him "More like I hoped you were slow enough for others to catch up."

The red cloak flew out of the darkness like some kind of phantom, gunshots firing out and striking down a member of laughing coffin.

Startled panic threw off Vassago's gathered forces and in that opening everything changed.

Vincent emerged from the cloak as he threw it back behind him, Yuffie dropped down out of the trees as her shuriken flew out ahead of her towards more of the group of killers.

Vincent slipped into the shadows, two laughing coffin members tried to pursue only for demonic beast-like arms to lunge out and pull them into the darkness screaming about a "monster."

"What are you all doing? You're trained killers!" Johnny Black yelled at their startled forces. "We have this in the bag!"

He turned towards Yuffie. Tifa had moved out from behind a tree and got in front of him. "Got you now!" Energy engulfed her legs as she somersaulted backwards, the kick slamming into him and the unleashed curving energy knocking him into the air.

Cid's spear shot down past him and stabbed into the ground, its wielder landing with it. Cid used the spear to vault himself forward and kick Johnny away before he could even hit the floor.

Barret played it cautious and kept to distance based combat as he fired repeated small bursts at any members trying to get close, warding them off. Any that did try to get by the gunfire were intercepted by Red XIII. Red's fast movements and size gave him plenty of advantage in manoeuvring around the attacks. His fast momentum brought him tackling into many and biting at their arms and legs. Cait Sith continued to ride atop him and supported him through watching behind him.

Vassago ran through the chaos around him towards the game master and the treasure hunter, his cleaver-like weapon bearing down on them. It crashed against the fusion sword swinging forward to intercept it. The clash of such strong metal weapons echoed throughout the forest as Cloud stood firmly in between Vassago and his targets, his fusion sword holding back the Chinese kitchen knife.

Even with the threat before him, Cloud's attention was focused on Blue behind him, "jeez, we've been looking all over for you, Blue."

Iris arriving with Cloud had immediately run up to Blue's side, eyes wide as she checked over the signs of cuts, some relief returning to her expression when she saw nothing lethal. "I'm so glad you're okay; don't worry us like that again."

"Believe me, wasn't planning on making this a habit. Thanks everyone for making it in time."

Vassago's laughter brought the attention back onto him, "In time for what exactly? You can take out as many of my weak men as you like but you'll find us to be far more entertaining."

Cloud pushed on the deadlock until one of Vassago's hands let go of his weapon and rose up to fire a burst of dark energy. Cloud shifted his hold on his blade to block most of the energy as it pushed the two of them apart.

Vassago's head tilted to the side, a dark glow to his purple eyes making them stand out under the shadows of his hood, an arrogant cocky smirk on his face. "Xaxa, I'll leave the Game Master and those two to you. I'll take on this fake hero."

Tifa landed down from a jump besides Cloud and stood alongside him "You'll have to handle both of us. Cloud, the others have everyone else handled."

Cloud nodded and glanced back at Blue, "Sorry to ask more of you but think you and Iris with your new friend can handle that one?"

"We won't let you down."

Cloud and Tifa ran towards Vassago who gleefully shouted out "It's Showtime!" before diving at them. Blue had been lucky to have caught him by surprise. Now Vassago showed his full skill, weaving in-between Cloud's sword slashes and Tifa's punches and kicks.

He wasn't fast enough to make it effortless, there were noticeable close calls but he still showed a prowess in battle with how he avoided their attacks, blocking and delivering his own attacks back, his blade swinging viciously all while his expression grew more and more ecstatic.

Blue and Philia readied their weapons once more, Iris joined them with her summoned sword. The three faced towards Xaxa who had yet to draw his own weapon.

"Iris, Philia, let's not take any chances here. We don't know what he's capable of."

Xaxa's hand went to the hilt of a knife sheathed on his belt, his smirk widening while the crimson eyepieces of his half skull mask began to glow once more. "By the time you realise, it will be over."

He pulled out a simple plain looking knife and held it pointed towards them. The air became tense and heavy as a strong spiritual power emanated from him. The pressure began to converge around his knife. "Beg, Sterben!" What sounded a command phrase was called out by him and energy burst up around him and his weapon. When the energy subsided his ordinary knife had become an Estoc. No longer did it carry the same plain design as the knife, now an ethereal shine to the silver of the blade.

He seemed to flicker out of reality before vanishing completely with the sound of a burst of static. Iris attuned to various energies reacted before the other two, swinging her sword forward and deflecting the stabbing thrust of the Estoc away as Xaxa re-appeared.

Blue stepped forward and swung his sword, Xaxa stepped back and pushed it away from him with his own Estoc and then immediately spun to stab at Philia who rolled to the side to avoid.

Iris swapped her sword for two daggers, focusing on speed as she moved in with quick swings and stabs.

Xaxa traded blows with her, dodging in-between her stabs while returning in kind. Iris was keeping a good pace but not enough to catch Xaxa while for every couple of stabs he was able to land a cut against her body.

As Xaxa stepped forward to pursue Iris, Philia jumped up and stabbed her dagger towards the back of his head. Xaxa seemed to flicker out of existence again but only brief enough to have moved slightly to the side and grab Philia's wrist, throwing her towards Iris.

The moment her body crashed into her, Xaxa's existence flickered away again. Philia and Iris heard a hiss of pain, Blue's voice restraining a yell. They looked up to see the Estoc inches away from them with blood trickling down the steel.

Blue knelt before them with the Estoc piercing through his shoulder. He swung his sword up only for Xaxa to release his grip on his Estoc and jump back.

Xaxa's hand stretched out and the Estoc pulled itself back out of Blue, this time he yelled out, the weapon then flew and returned to its owner's hand.

Blue winced as he got back up to his feet, holding his shoulder with his free hand for a moment.

"I can barely keep up with his speed," Philia admitted as she rose and helped Iris up with her.

"I can somewhat track his spiritual energy but it's not enough to react perfectly. I don't know what he is but he's not pure human."

Blue listened to Philia and Iris's words while keeping his gaze locked on Xaxa. He couldn't deny his chances weren't any better, he was sensing vague shifts in the pressure of the air from the spiritual power emanating from their foe and that was the only way he was able to just barely move in time to block his attack.

However, "We won't lose," Blue said it with complete conviction. "However strong he is, the more intense we'll fight back. We can't afford to lose and we're not going to."

Xaxa didn't dignify the confidence with a verbal retort, moving so fast he vanished once again. Blue jumped to the side, the Estoc cutting past his leg as Xaxa re-appeared in their view. Xaxa followed up with more stabs, Blue kept stepping back and back while using his blade to ward off attacks.

He could feel the panic threatening to overwhelm him but his focus on his master's teachings kept him grounded. He held onto a serene state of mind as he kept on the defensive while watching Xaxa's movements. Keeping Xaxa from being able to move too fast for them to keep up with was difficult when even at this speed it was hard to keep up with the fast precision strikes of the Estoc.

He glanced over at Iris and shook his head slightly. She stopped her advance and put a hand out in front of Philia to motion for her to cease too, waiting for a better opening.

Blue concentrated and began to channel the air around his arms and sword, weakening the wind resistance and offering slight improvements to his speed. It wasn't anything noticeable but he did have to smile as it proved a successful test for what he wanted to move onto next.

Xaxa's blade was now coated in its own energy aura, fuelling his attacks further. Every time a strike narrowly missed Blue he felt a presence similar to being in the lifestream, an aura of death around his opponent.

Xaxa pulled his blade back with a smirk, Blue concentrated upon the ground beneath his own feet. The estoc stabbed forward. Part of the ground beneath blue pushed up into a thin pillar of dirt and stone, pushing him up above the estoc's attack.

Blue dropped down, his sword swinging down hard towards his opponent. Xaxa lifted his Estoc up horizontally to block it. The laughing coffin higher up gasped as his knees bent for a moment from the force of Blue's impact.

Blue kept pushing his sword down as he held Xaxa here in this deadlock, glaring at him over their crossed blades "Like I said, we can't afford to lose."

Unnerving to Blue was how Xaxa's smile only seemed to get more ecstatic at Blue's resolve, "You really are the real deal aren't you?"

"Iris, Philia! Take him!"

"Oh?" Xaxa looked to see Iris come at him from his left, Philia come at him from his right. His form began to flicker. Blue's eyes narrowed.

The air around the two became much heavier, the pressure left it difficult for Blue to breathe but even though Xaxa pulled back away from Blue fast…he was visible, fast but not enough to seemingly vanish from existence.

Iris threw both of her daggers at Xaxa, one catching him in the leg while another in his arm. She summoned her sword once more and slashed at him while her daggers vanished back into particles of light. Philia's dagger surrounded in energy stabbed forward at Xaxa.

The blade cut in but did not pierce completely through, however the impact of energy blasted him back. Still the assault was not over. Blue lifted his sword over onto his shoulder, energy covering it as his Sonic Leap skill activated and pushed him forward in a burst. The air returned to normal and Blue's sword came slashing down.

Xaxa grit his teeth and raised his free hand up, "Cero!" The energy attack had no build-up this time and so only a small burst of crimson energy fired out but it was enough to knock Blue back into landing with Iris and Philia.

The three of them breathed heavy as they stood side-by-side, ready for whatever danger came next.

Xaxa breathed out too for a moment before standing fully upright and smiling at them, "I underestimated your tenacity. That little air trick was fun but it won't work again now that I know to compensate for it."

Xaxa stabbed his estoc upright into the ground and pressed his hand against the cuts left by Philia and Iris. Pulling his hand away to stare at the blood, he spoke with surprising praise to them, "to think you'd even be able to cut me. I thought this job was a joke, but your abilities are the real deal alright."

Xaxa lifted that hand up to face them, fingers curled forward as if to grasp something while his other hand held onto that arm tight as if to brace it. "But like the boss said: its showtime!" A small violet sphere of energy with a crimson core began to manifest in front of his hand, the blood on his hand moved as if drawn in away and into the sphere.

It began to grow in size and intensity, crackling as strands of energy shot out it and carved into the ground around him. The fabric of reality itself seemed to strain under the build up of this attack, even the attack itself seemed to be straining under its own power.

Iris stepped in front of Blue and Philia and lifted her sword up "you two, stay behind me!" Green energy, vibrant in its beauty surrounded her blade as she prepared her Screen Divide attack.

"Gran," Xaxa began to say as the crimson eyepieces of his skull shone bright enough to be seen through the build up of his energy attack.

Blue placed one hand on Iris's shoulder; Philia did the same to her other shoulder, both acting as stable support while her attack charged up. She didn't know what Xaxa's attack was capable of but she knew she was the only one capable of sending any potential type of counter to it.

"Rey," Xaxa continued as his feet pushed firmly down into the ground beneath him. His smirk returned then widened into a maniacal grin as he yelled out "Cero!"

The energy blast fired away from his hand in the form of a ball, a ball that restructured its shape as it flew, tearing the fabric of space-time around it as it moved.

"Screen Divide!" Iris swung her sword forward and unleashed the energy forward as a jagged wave. Both attacks collided in the air, the ground beneath it ripping apart as each attack strained against the other.

The resulting mixture of energy burst together into a large explosion cancelling out both attacks and covering the area in a cloud of dust as the ground broke apart further and multiple trees toppled from the shockwave.

* * *

As this fight had raged on, Cloud and Tifa had continued to take on Vassago together.

Tifa's fist slammed into Vassago's cheek, he stumbled but barely seemed to care as he returned the favour by slamming his elbow against her stomach. As Tifa stepped back, his knife swung forward at her.

Cloud's fusion sword blocked its way; he separated a sword from it into his free hand and swung that over the top of the clash at Vassago's head. The leader of Laughing coffin caught it in his free hand, not flinching or caring in how the sword still cut into flesh, "Whoops. Can't go and make this easy for you."

Tifa jumped up over Cloud and swung her foot down in an axe kick, dark energy burst up around him to push them both back. Tifa didn't wait around, jumping through the fading energy to throw out a combo of punches and kicks that Vassago kept swerving in-between.

Tifa slammed her foot down and spun her other foot forward in a roundhouse kick to his head, watching him stumble from the blow. "Keep thinking little of us and you won't even get the chance to regret it."

As if to prove that point, Cloud ran forward and swung both swords forward diagonally downwards from opposite directions. Both blades cut into his shoulders and began to cut down into his body. Rather then scream in pain…Vassago merely smiled. His free hand slammed against Cloud and fired a point blank blast of dark energy.

Cloud yelled out as he was thrown back by the impact, his skin burnt and his top now featuring a blasted open hole in it. Tifa ran up to him and helped him stand back up. Vassago grabbed Cloud's blades still lodged into his shoulders and lifted them up with a grunt before dropping them to the floor. Dark demonic energy filled the gaps and his body began to repair itself at an absurdly fast rate.

"You're not human are you?" Tifa questioned, keeping an eye on Vassago as well as Cloud's blades, already working out the most efficient tactics in her mind to give Cloud an open path back to his weapon.

"My Prince of Hell title isn't for show."

Tifa looked to Cloud who pulled his hand away from his injury, both nodded at each other. Together they ran towards Vassago who calmly walked towards them, leaving Cloud's blades behind him.

Cloud hadn't neglected non weapons based training; he ran ahead of Tifa and threw a punch at Vassago. Vassago lifted his arm up and pushed Cloud's fist away with it. Tifa's hands touched down on Cloud's shoulders as she flipped over him and kicked out towards their opponent.

Vassago swung his weapon up at her legs, Cloud stepped back while grabbing hold of Tifa's arms and pulling her back, the blade just skimming under her shoes. With Cloud's grip on her, Tifa swung herself under his arm and let go to kick forward.

Vassago reached forward to grab her foot only for it to suddenly pull back. His eyed widened in surprise as he noticed Cloud's had reached out to grab Tifa's hand to swing her around him. As she came around again the full force of her kick slammed into his head and if nothing else made him stumble.

Tifa's feet touched down on the ground, skidding from the momentum but not to a halt. Her shared hold with Cloud tightened on her side, her momentum still spinning her around as she now swung Cloud forward and released.

Vassago turned too late, the strike of his weapon missing Cloud as he was thrown past him. Cloud's hands reached out and snatched his swords up from the ground. One sword stabbed into the ground to slow and pull its wielder to a stop, the other lifted up and became covered in blue energy.

That sword slammed down onto the ground, the blade beam energy traversing across the ground and crashing into Vassago.

The residue energy was slashed away by the killer's cleaver in time to see Cloud before him once more. Faster and faster the fusion sword and one of its separated blades were swung by Cloud. Most were blocked or deflected by swings of Vassago's own, the strikes that made it through cut at Vassago but he continued to not react to the damage.

Tifa ran up behind Vassago, he swung his blade back at her. She ducked under it then kicked off from the ground with enough force to crack it under her feet.

Rising her fist into an uppercut she launched Vassago up off his feet and followed him into the air, grabbing him and throwing him back down.

The fusion sword was placed back together by Cloud, spinning over his shoulder for a moment before it was held out in front of him once more. Orange flame like energy burst up around Cloud, intensifying into a blue colour as he ran towards Vassago. "This ends here!"

The moment Vassago landed upon his feet, Cloud Strife was upon him. Multiple powered up slashes coming again and again, too fast for Vassago to block. Even his high defence and regeneration not preventing the deep cuts the technique known as Omnislash carved upon him.

Jumping up above Vassago, Cloud raised the blade above his head and brought it down as he fell.

The sword cut down the front of Vassago at the same time as the explosive clash of Screen Divide and Gran Rey Cero.

As a haze of dust filled the area around them, Cloud felt Tifa's presence besides him. The two stood ready, peering into the dust for any motion.

No sudden attacks occurred, no rapid movements drawing closer. They waited on guard until the dust began to finally subside, revealing Vassago, Xaxa and Johnny Black standing together with the remaining members of Laughing Coffin, a pitiful six others compared to the gathering it was previously.

Vassago's wounds were taking time to heal but nevertheless they were indeed healing. "Enough of this."

Blue looked over, cautiously studying the way they grouped together. "Wait. Are you leaving?" One part of him was relieved but another part felt enraged by the idea that they could just call it quits.

"This contract is no longer beneficial, besides-" Vassago's gaze fell directly on Blue, "-something I need to check about you with our employer."

"You don't really think we're just going to let you go after all this?!"

His hand held aloft a crystal of dark energy, time-space around the group began to bend and distort until a rift opened up behind them, a rift much like the one Iris and Cissnei had discovered. Only the power emanating from this made it clear that it led completely off this world.

"Until the next time, Game Master."

Shockwaves of energy lashed out from the rift, keeping anyone else from approaching while one by one the members of Laughing Coffin entered. Xaxa entered second to last, his own smirk towards Blue "and there will be a next time."

In the end there was just Vassago, one casual wave with his back turned as he stepped over the threshold. The rift closed and silence fell upon the forest.

"Sooooo" Cait Sith broke the silence, drawing out the word. "Who wants to go get dinner on that sobering note?"

* * *

At least two days passed by as normality somewhat returned to the planet. Reeve and other members of the W.R.O kept a guarded watch in case Laughing Coffin hadn't completely left.

Indeed they had left though, Blue still wasn't sure if that was truly relieving or not. At the very least he supposed they had brought time. The others had tried to assure him things were fine, told him that he simply had to look at how much of the group they had dispatched and how he had held his own.

He just couldn't shake the feeling they hadn't learnt enough about the group or seen enough of their power. Sure many lower members had been killed…two by his own hand…but the fighter's instincts in him kept filling him with doubt that the leaders had actually shown their full might.

Nor did it help to know they were simply following a request. Someone or something else had already put a target on him. Dropping the bombshell about Sephiroth's will slowly reawakening wasn't fun for him either but it at least let everyone start thinking ahead for the inevitable day.

Blue did however leave out the memories he had seen in the Lifestream. He wasn't sure he was ready to even begin analysing the possibility of some other version of himself existing on this world, one with a life similar enough to what he had imagined for a self-insert version.

After some recovery time, Philia decided to move on to another world. With a friendship and trust forged through this danger, she had made an offer to Blue and Iris on if they wanted to join her. Blue had thought over it but decided he still felt like he had more preparation he could do here on this world. Iris felt no desire to move on to another world yet either and also said about benefits to staying for now.

They gave their farewells but seemed confident they'd meet again out there in the universe another day.

For now they would just focus on recovery and rest.

Across the universe, in one of many crime focused cities on another world, laughing coffin's remaining members hung around in a bar full of criminals, mercenaries and various other types of questionable individuals.

Two laughing coffin members were talking rather loudly about the surprising strength of the new game master, about how he had even managed to punch their boss flying.

A mobian jackal sat in the corner listening intently, intrigued by the information.

Unfortunately for the two, Vassago was also overhearing from the other side of the room. One simple nod to Xaxa was it all took and the two were dragged out by him and Johnny Black.

Vassago returned his attention to the phone like device in his hand and the barely started call. "Now then, as I was saying. The game master still currently lives."

A male's voice with a slight English accent, polite in tone yet noticeably exaggerated in its playful manner, replied over the call, "alas, I suppose the boy proved to be more than you had prepared for. No matter, take your time."

"Oh I plan to, see, I can't keep shaking this feeling that we were hired to push him into a corner, to awaken his power."

An obvious fake gasp came in response, "do you mean to imply that I would hire such scandalous individuals simply to test a theory?"

"I saw the light of The Azure."

"Marvellous isn't it? Very well, yes I never expected him to die. But please, call this job: a gesture of goodwill. I'm sure you and your kin can benefit from knowing in advance of the Game Master's power too."

"I don't appreciate being used. What exactly is your connection to the game master?"

"Let's just say that he is intruding on family business."

"Fine then, who exactly are you?"

A soft chuckle from the mysterious man on the call before his tone seemed even more amused at the conversation. "Just think of me…As a man of no consequence."

* * *

 **Author Notes :**

Note 1: Shippu-Zuki roughly translates to Gale Punch.

Note 2: Sterben is from the German language and translates to "to die" and is being used as the name of Xaxa's weapon. Said weapon functions like the Zanpakutō of Bleach, the command call releasing it from a sealed state to its first powered up form, known in that series as its Shikai state.

Note 3: Following on from that note. Gran Rey Cero, like Cero itself, is also from Bleach.

Note 4: Alright. That's this flashback over at long last. I'm hoping for progress to start improving even more soon. The original version of this story's biggest problem was always that it didn't have a good foundation to work from. We're getting to a point now where the early set-up is in place which hopefully should make things easier for me.

See you next time.


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